Best & The Brightest

A wise Scottish publisher, whom I still feel very honored to have met during my time abroad, was shocked to learn I had not read David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest, and I'm sorry to say I still haven't gotten around to it. But I feel that what I learned at that beautiful kitchen table in Islington, and what I know in an anecdotal way about the book, is that we reflect those who surround us.

Would Kennedy have been so revered without his star-studded Cabinet? Does it really take a village to raise a child? or a teenager? or anyone?

I know that when I spend time around people with negative attitudes, I find myself pulled down to that negativity, and life seems less enjoyable. My bubblier friends make me feel happy, and those acquaintances whom I suspect have deep faith lives, or meaningful friendships, make me wish to pursue those happinesses that much more.

I want to surround myself with more creativity. I feel this can be done without snobbery or arrogance of any sort. I just need the words and images and music of creative people. I want to surround myself with more books, more art, more music, more food. It doesn't have to be my physical surroundings, but I want it to be my intellectual surroundings.

I feel I already do this a lot, except that I wish I read more and knitted more. I'm already surrounded by so much: NPR, Design*Sponge, Malaprops...

More of a wandering post I know. Maybe an update later. Peace.