The Land Urges Us To Come Around

What Does It Mean To Grow Rich? Is It To Have Red-blooded Adventures And To Make A ‘fortune,’ Which Is What Brought The Whalers And Other Entrepreneurs North? Or Is It, Rather, To Have A Good Family Life And To Be Imbued With A Far-reaching And Intimate Knowledge Of One’s Homeland, Which Is What The Tununirmiut Told The Whalers At Pond’s Bay Wealth Was? Is It To Retain A Capacity For Awe And Astonishment In Our Lives, To Continue To Hunger After What Is Genuine And Worthy? Is It To Live At Moral Peace With The Universe?

We Cannot, Of Course, Save The World Because We Do Not Have Authority Over Its Parts. We Can Serve The World Though. That Is Everyone's Calling, To Lead A Life That Helps.

If Stories Come To You, Care For Them. And Learn To Give Them Away Where They Are Needed. Sometimes A Person Needs A Story More Than Food To Stay Alive.

To Allow Mystery, Which Is To Say To Yourself, 'there Could Be More...things We Don't Understand,' Is Not To Damn Knowledge....it Is To Permit Yourself An Extraordinary, Freedom: Someone Else Does Not Have To Be Wrong In Order That You Might Be Right...this Tolerance For Mystery Invigorates The Imagination; And It Is The Imagination That Gives Shape To The Universe.

If I Were To Offer Any Advice To Young Writers, It Would Be This: Be Discriminating And Be Discerning About The Work You Set For Yourself. That Done, Be The Untutored Traveler, The Eager Reader, The Enthusiastic Listener. Put What You Learn Together Carefully, And Then Write Thoughtfully, With Respect Both For The Reader And Your Sources.