is grief necessary?


IS GRIEF NECESSARY?
Yes.  When a relative dies, it is a natural  priority.  When a friend with whom one has shared a mutually caring relationship dies, a lesser degree of grief is appropriate.  Water is not thicker than blood.  An even lesser degree of grief is in order when an acquaintance dies.  Sadness is a surrogate for grief.  In all cases, the emotion should be clean, honest, and genuine, and it should be followed by a return to the business of living.  The time required for return can't be predicted.



In all cases, one ought to strive to have a humble ceremony of the spirit, an epiphany of mortality. Grief is an ember.  Sadness is a flash.  If tears are needed to minimize distress or stress, cry!



Ernest J. Gaines  (1933-2019) was a giant, a Southern, African American writer from Louisiana, and John Oliver Killens, himself a giant from Georgia , listed him as a figure the American literary establishment endeavored to relegate" to a state of invisibility and oblivion."



"No matter, there is a black Southern literary tradition, a voice that is special, profound, and distinct from any other in the country.  It is a voice, more often than not, that is distinguished by the quality of its anger its righteous indignation, its reality, its truthfulness.  It is a voice that speaks eloquently, and artistically, for change." [ Introduction, Black Southern Voices (New York: Meridian, 1992): 1 ].



I had the privilege of co-editing Black Southern Voices, and twenty-seven years later I add a footnote to Killens' prescience:   When our giants ascend, study their works from new perspectives.  Transmit their legacies by instruction and example to future generations.  Honor the Sankofa links between the present and the forever.



A black Southern literary tradition of which Gaines was a sterling member has no obligation to castigate the dying American literary establishment .  Its obligation is to enhance the legacy and lifetime achievements  of Ernest J. Gaines, to thereby ennoble the souls of black folk, to bless humanity.



Jerry W. Ward, Jr.            November 7, 2019

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

implacable violence, part one

Implacable Violence, Part One The death of Senator John McCain quickens our   interest in how to deal with contemporary   narratives of life history.   McCain's touchstone story pertains to American conservative values, the consequences of trauma,   military and public service, violence, and   a sense of honor.   Barack Obama's differently remarkable narratives direct attention to the absence of military service, class and caste violence, the audacity of hope, centralist values, and diversity in the history of "race."   Narratives about McCain and Obama stand in noteworthy contrast to future narratives about Donald Trump, stories that may place ego in the foreground as they unfold tales of sexism, constipated values,     inadvertent racism, the violence of capitalism, sleight of mouth, and avoidance of military service.   Ego, self-fashioning, and boldness are apparent in the three sets of narrative, but excess lynches the Trump set. Violence is a common denomina
Read more

Christmas, Kwanzaa, 2018

Blog 12.19.2017 CHRISTMAS I have a reason for not being anxious to celebrate Advent and Christmas Day.   Sixty years ago, my father died on December 25.   Fifty-nine years ago, my favorite uncle died a few days before Christmas.   I do want other people to be happy, but I am most at peace when Christmas has gone with the snow, the sunshine or rain, the wind.   I still say "Merry Christmas."   The only genuine happiness I experience, however, is listening to Handel's "The Messiah" and a few songs I've treasured since childhood,   attending Midnight Mass, having home-made fruitcake   after Mass, and eating a special meal with relatives on the excessively commercialized holiday. KWANZAA Umoja ---Decide with whom you should seek unity. Kujichagulia --Expand the terms of engagement for 2018. Ujima ---Cooperate on a project with people you can trust. Ujamaa --Be frugal.   Shop selectively. Nia ---Remember our histories
Read more

DuBois and Black Reconstruction

  PROPAGATION OF HISTORY AND FAITH   DuBois, W. E. B.   Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 . (1935; New York: The Free Press, 1998).   Dr. DuBois knew what was problematic about his revisionist history in Black Reconstruction .   He made his intentions clear in his note "To The Reader" (December 1934).   His ideal audience consisted of people who believed a black person in America "and in general is an average and ordinary human being, who under given environment develops like other human beings…"   DuBois was not trying to convince those who regarded " the Negro as a distinctly inferior creation, who can never successfully take part in modern civilization…"   Indeed, the Negro, in my mind at least, is the chief architect of civilization.   Is it only a matter of accident that Carter G. Woodson's The Mis-Education of the Negro was published   two years before Black Reconstruction ?   No.   It wasn't an accident.   It was a future
Read more