Therefore encourage each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
—1 Thessalonians 5:11
There is a quote by Dolly Parton that says, “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” I think of days when I am feeling depressed or worried, and it’s hard to put a smile on my face. It is times like that when you need someone to remind you there is a reason to smile. Smiles can be infectious. I know if I see someone smile, I smile back. I do the same thing when someone winks at me (I wink back), or if someone yawns around me (it causes me to yawn).
If we think about the Golden Rule, i.e., Luke 6:31, “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise,” if you want someone to smile at you, shouldn’t you do the same for them. You never know what someone else is going through. They may be in a bad mood one day and make you angry, or they are just a miserable person on a regular basis. We should think about why they are in a bad mood or such a miserable person. Something in their life is not going well, and we just don’t know what it is. Therefore, sometimes all you can do with people like that is to be friendly and smile. It may just be what they need.
Romans 14:19 says, “Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may build up another.” We deal with difficult people every day, but if we stoop to their level and are also difficult, then we are not pursuing “the things which make for peace.” Instead, we are just reinforcing their difficult behavior. When I deal with difficult people, and I do nearly every weekday, I smile, I am pleasant, and I don’t let them know how miserable I think they are.
In the song “When You’re Smiling” popularized by Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and others, it says:
When you’re smilin’, when you’re smilin’ The whole world smiles with you When you’re laughin’, when you’re laughin’ The sun comes shinin’ through
But when you’re cryin’, you bring on the rain So stop that cryin’, be happy again Keep on smilin’, ’cause when you’re smilin’ The whole world smiles with you
When you’re smilin’, when you’re smilin’ The whole world, it smiles with you When you’re laughin’, oh babe, when you’re laughin’ The sun would-a come shining through
But when you’re cryin’, you bring on the rain So, stop that sighin’, come on and be happy again Keep on smilin’, ’cause when you’re smilin’, baby The whole world smiles with you
Early this week I finished listening to the audiobook of Rainbow History Class: Your Guide Through Queer and Trans History (Hardcover, Kindle, Audible) by Hannah McElhinney. The author began Rainbow History Class by posting one-minute videos on TikTok. Eventually, it grew into the book Rainbow History Class. The book is meant to be a crash course in LGBTQ+ history from the ancient world through to lesser-known moments in recent history. While there wasn’t much in this book that I did not know, McElhinney is Australian, so the parts about Australia’s LGBTQ+ history was definitely interesting and new information.
The book is well-written, and it is just as it is described, a crash course in LGBTQ+ history. However, at just 216 pages, it can’t come close to covering all of LGBTQ+ history (and it’s not meant to). McElhinney does a good job in delving into more detail about the vignettes in LGBTQ+ history that she chose to discuss.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.
The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water, and food.
—Dean Ornish
I’m leaving on my retreat today. I thought this quote was somewhat apropos for the type of retreat I am going to. The retreat is designed to disconnect from social norms and reconnect with nature. We will be engaging in workshops like art, body movement, and photography, as well as rituals, trance dance, and fire ceremony. I really need this getaway, and I am going to make the most of it.
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
1) Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
This is the first book about gay men I ever bought or read. Though I’ve always found it a sad book, it instilled in me a love of gay literature. I could probably name similar books. The first (sort of) gay book I tried to read, I checked out of the public library. It was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and once I figured out it was about a gay man, I quickly returned it hoping no one would see if checked out a book with gay people in it. Of course, that was stupid for two reasons. First, this was back when you signed the little card pasted in the book cover when you checked out the book, and second, half the patrons of the library had already checked out and read the book. So, my signature was just one of many. I doubt anyone would have thought anything of it, but when you’re a closeted teenager who is scared to death of someone thinking he’s gay, you often don’t think rationally. So, when I was in college, I went to the Barnes and Noble’s and bought Giovanni’s Room and was careful no one knew what I was reading.
2) Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
Since I first took a class on World War I in undergrad, I have been fascinated by the war. It made me a firm believer in pacifism. I remember reading the first chapter of Guns of August which describes the funeral of King Edward VII of Great Britain. Reading that, more than anything else I’ve ever read (with the possible exception of Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence), made me feel like I was standing on the side of the street watching the funeral procession. The description of the long line of dignitaries is so wonderfully descriptive. Tuchman’s writing convinced me that history can tell a wonderful story. History didn’t have to be boring and dry.
3) Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
This one might seem like an odd one, but it introduced me to Leon’s main protagonist of Commissario Guido Brunetti. The Commissario style of interrogation taught me a very valuable lesson when conducting oral histories. Brunetti would ask a question and then sit there until he got an answer. His belief was that people want to fill the silence, and you just have to wait them out. Oral history is a lot like that. It’s not like radio or television where you don’t want dead air; that’s fine in an oral history. Silence can sometimes tell you more than the answer, but people will always try to fill the void, so you sit quietly until they do.
What would be your answer?
*Wordpress has prompts for blog posts, and I haven’t been inspired enough to use one until the question above.
Joe
The Closet Professor 