What I Leave Behind

In which the end is coming. Then again, the end is always coming.

Most of everything I’ve written professionally, and much of what I’ve drawn, is on one of these doohickies. Not much to look at when one takes stock of a lifetime’s work.

When the power goes out — not temporarily, but when it happens for good — which probably won’t happen in my lifetime, but may happen in yours, whatever’s on these small pieces of plastic and mixed bits of crap will be lost, most likely forever.

Printed books won’t fade out of existence though.

That’s why I still tend to buy my books in printed form.

Yeah, sometimes I’ll also pick up the ebook, because a small device that can hold hundreds of books at once really is a modern miracle. For most of my life I had to carefully select one or two books from among thousands to bring with me on a flight. Now I can take them all, which is ironic since I almost never fly anymore. The price of air travel being too high now. Not in money, but in other aggravations.

But the Kindle reader is great when I go to bed not knowing what I’ll feel like reading that night, so, good on that.

But, when the lights go out, my Kindle reader will be an odd paperweight at best.

Sure, a nice hefty computer can be used as an improvised weapon, to club an enemy to death during the savage years to come. But the total amount of books saved onto its inert hard drive won’t add one iota of weight to its killing potential. But a good book can (if worn in the right place) stop a bullet, and mitigate a blade or bludgeon attack. If you aren’t interested in reading it, its pages make good fire starter, or can fill the all important necessity for toilet paper when needs must. And, while you’re sitting there, waiting for nature to take its course, you can read a few pages, and maybe learn something.

One of my college professors (Mr. Rhee who taught my Survey of Old Testament Literature class) told often of his experience in war-torn Korea (many years ago), sitting down to do his business in a mostly-destroyed building, and intending to use a discarded Bible as wiping paper. While sitting he read a few pages to pass the time and was converted there and then. I place that incident right up there with Saul’s Damascus Road conversion. I truly do.

Getting back to the point: because I’m egotistical enough to want to leave something of myself behind, and even more conceited to think what I leave will have some value, while I won’t ignore creating ebooks, and digital operations such as this very newsletter, I do believe I’m going to expend my greatest efforts on getting printed books into readers’ hands.

May I ask your forgiveness in advance, if many of the posts to come resemble aggressive ads for my various books?