Today I'm saddened to learn of the passage of a person whose voice I had never heard, but whose voice has been in my head for 40 years.
Author J.D. Salinger's voice reached me in 1970. I had just left the Army a little more than a year after I had returned from Vietnam. It was in an English class that we received what I consider a "gift assignment" -- to read his short story, "For Esme -- with love and squalor."
More than any piece of work by any writer, this moving, personal and oh-so-realistic story inspired me to write and gave me permission to find and embrace my own voice.
I didn't understand why, every time I read the story, my head released a tidal wave of tears and snot and everything else that goes along with mega-sobbing -- I didn't understand, that is, until 30 years later when I was able to find the direct links to the pain of the main character, J.D. Salinger himself.
Imagine that. I had an empathic bond with a superstar, albeit reclusive, writer.
For those who wish to know a little bit about what makes me tick a little off beat today, I urge you to read this wonderful story. Again, it's a short story -- short enough that you can actually give yourself the gift of a few minutes to embrace great writing and a poignant story.
It's one of the "Nine Stories" by J.D. Salinger that's available in most any bookstore. But you can also read it and even print it out from this link:
http://scriptorpress.yage.net/BM16_2001_salinger.pdf
I urge you to share with me (and others if you wish to comment on this post) the manner in which this story touches a part of you.
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We both served in Vietnam, but we didn't meet until a few years ago -- the small Vietnam vet group in which Paul participates invited me and Fritz the Sassy Service Dog to join them every Wednesday evening in Burbank.
Following last week's meeting, he took me aside and gave me a perspective so powerful that it has changed how I see my own life and legacy.
