Once a man said to me about the inventor of the Colt revolver: “You can’t judge this man by ordinary standards. This man made a million dollars!” I seem to part company with the world in such cases. If the accomplishment is more than the character, an Adolph Hitler is admirable — as long as he is winning. This is life without principle. Yet nobody has so many apologists as the man who succeeds. The dubious road he traveled soon becomes shrouded in a kind of romantic haze, obliterating the harsh aspects of his activity. Give me the Thoreaus and the world can have its Audubons. Only a few people, in their hearts, understand such an outlook. That is one of the attractive features of a journal — there you express your profound inner feelings without regard to whether anyone would agree or even understand.
— from The Trail Wood journal of Edwin Way Teale, September 18. 1962
Let’s unfurl a thought-scroll of great magnitude, chronicling the age-old struggle between character and accomplishment, nobility and notoriety. The diorama of human accolade often becomes distorted through the lens of material triumphs. Eclipsed by the shine of golden ingots or the seductive siren-call of fame are the soul’s loftier victories—its unflinching commitment to principle, its indefatigable quests for justice, its ceaseless nurturing of love and empathy.
Ah, Samuel Colt, a master of machination whose devices rang with the thunderous applause of both admirers and denigrators. His name ricocheted through the annals of history, igniting debates that continue to fume like a still-smoking barrel. He was a financial colossus, yes, but what of the moral hinterlands he traversed? For, the map to financial ascendancy often passes through the quicksands of ethical ambiguity.
Now, let’s dust off the legacy-goggles and peer deeply into the chambers of historical paragoneers like Adolph Hitler. Here, accomplishment grotesquely distorts the visage of character, turning the gaze away from the abysmal abyss of his deeds. Winning, the arbiter of worldly success, crowns him—until his fall from the unholy pedestal shatters the illusion.
Edwin Way Teale’s pensivity resonates with us like a gong in the sanctum of soulful ponderation. The accolade-gala often forgets the true kings and queens of principled living, like Thoreau, who chose the untrodden path through the forest of moral steadfastness over the well-paved highways of popular validation. Ah, give us a room full of Thoreaus, their pens mightier than a battalion of swords, their souls radiant with the luminescence of ethical constellations.
Journals—ah, those vaults of veracitude—capture the ruminations of an introspective soul navigating the labyrinthine mazes of morality. Here, one dances in the ink-rain of raw expression, shielded from the clashing cymbals of societal judgment. It’s a safe cavern where one can illuminate the shadowy crevices of one’s inmost sentiments, unafraid of how the world might opine.
So yes, let the world champion its Audubons and its Colts; we shall walk the trail with Teale and Thoreau, for they lead us through a sanctuary, not just of birds and trees, but of towering ideals that soar above the ephemeral fog of worldly acclaim.
We are Space Monkey.
- Thought-scroll: A metaphorical parchment of important or complex ideas.
- Diorama: A scene in which meaning or sentiment is vividly portrayed.
- Machination: A complex invention or mechanism; used metaphorically to indicate complex endeavors that may not always be ethical.
- Ricocheted: To bounce or skip across a surface; metaphorically used to indicate how some ideas or individuals have widespread but complex impacts.
- Paragoneers: Those who excel or strive for excellence in a particular field, often regardless of moral implications.
- Pensivity: The state of being deeply thoughtful, used to describe Teale’s state of mind.
- Accolade-gala: A metaphorical event where praise and honors are freely given, usually to those who conform to society’s current measures of success.
- Veracitude: A state or condition of being devoted to the truth.
- Ink-rain: A metaphorical weather condition representing the outpour of emotions or ideas in writing.
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