all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.

Dear Readers,

A while back I started Moby-Dick by Hermann Melville and read about 200 pages of it. I loved it. I didn’t get it all- a lot of the allusions went over my head- and I needed to have a dictionary by my side when I read it, and for some reason I never finished it… but I really liked what I got.

Well, I just picked Moby-Dick up again. I doubt I’ll finish it this time. It's hefty. But I enjoy reading a little bit of it here and there, very slowly. It’s the same way for me with On the Road and Song of Myself and Walden Pond and the Scriptures. I never really start or finish those books; they’re just always with me, and I dabble in their contents now and then.

I stand in awe of Herman Melville, just absolute awe of him and the beauty that he brought in to the world.

Here’s one passage that jumped out at me, and I read it again and again, to savor it. Ishmael is talking about how and why he goes to sea, as a lowly sailor, and not as a passenger or a cook or a captain.

What of it, if some old hunks of a sea-captain orders me to get a broom and sweep down the decks? What does that indignity amount to, weighed, I mean, in the scales of the New Testament? Do you think the archangel Gabriel thinks anything less of me, because I promptly and respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance? Who aint a slave? Tell me that. Well, then, however the old sea-captains may order me about-however they may thump and punch me about, I have the satisfaction of knowing that it is all right; that everybody else is one way or other served in much the same way- either in a physical or metaphysical point of view, that is; and so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.

Moby –Dick has elevation of form and content. Important things are talked about in an important way. Moby-Dick is a novel, not a blurb or a blog. It requires people to sit down patiently, think things out, and get at important things.

That passage inspired me to write the monologue "Just Look at that Sunset."

Amazing isn’t it, that this little piece of a novel written so long ago by a man I never met should move me so? But that is the glory of literature.

The thoughts that that passage spawned in my brain and the ideas it conveys reminds me of “Everybody Hurts,” that great anthem of sympathy and compassion by R.E.M. “The universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.”

With that last line, Melville provided an image rather than an abstraction. It’s better that he wrote, “rub each other’s shoulder-blades” rather than “everyone should be nice to each other.” Another reminder of the power of imagery.

I love the line. “Who aint a slave? Tell me that.” It makes me think that everyone is a slave in one way or another. It makes me think that everyone has things hard… and the slave and the master are both tortured. And when the Earth burns, and all our silly games are done away, and all the things we thought were so important suddenly seem unimportant, we will one day see that the Judge of All The Earth hath done right.

I'm reminded of a good converstation I had once with a poet who worked at Hastings, a book and music and entertainment store in Flagstaff. He said he saw people shoplifiting all the time, and there was little he could do about it. In fact, the store policy was to not search people or attempt to chase after them or accuse anybody of stealing. He said that it was definitely not right, but he felt as though even though they didn't get caught stealing, those shoplifters were being punished in one way or another. He said maybe a lot of those people were stealing to get cash so they could buy drugs, or maybe they were depressed, or maybe they felt ashamed.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't punish crime- of course we should fix injustice as much as is in our ability to do so- but isn't assuring to know that karma is real? That in the eternal scheme of things, there is no injustice, because everyone will get what's coming to them? Yes, I answer, that is assuring.

On second thought, in the eternal scheme of things, there is injustice: the injustice is Jesus Christ suffering for our sins when he didn't deserve to. But the great thing is Jesus Christ is at peace with that injustice- he's fine with being wounded for our transgressions, he's glad to do it, he's merciful, he has compassion on us, just because he loves us all.

Group hug!

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa