Notes from Readers
February 9, 2012
TOM B. writes:
Thank you for your blog. My wife and I both “survived” the divorce holocaust of the seventies. We are now ten years married, and homeschooling our four children, ages 8,7,6,6.
We live in Silicon Valley, and sometimes feel like partisans in an insidious ideological war. Our life experiences made us conservative; having children compounded the effect. Thus, when I see the decay advancing on all fronts, I sometimes vacillate between rage and despair- rage at the Boomers (or the ’68s, as they are called in Europe), whose hubris has brought us to this point, and despair, as I feel (sometimes) the hopelessness of our cause. We are Romans, and the Vandals approach.
When I first read your writing, I was happy to find you making so articulate a defense of traditional Western culture; I have made similar arguments myself, though not as well.
I am now 43; my sense of obligation to posterity waxes with each passing year; my contribution is in my children, and theirs unborn. I want to imbue them with a reverence for the things you write about- things I strongly agree with- so that, when sense returns, they can help rebuild our country.
Again, thank you. It’s good to know that we’re not alone in this.
Laura writes:
Thank you for writing.
Homeschooling in Silicon Valley! Wow, you must have some interesting stories to tell. What a great adventure. Your children and grandchildren – and their children – will be grateful that you have had the sense and courage to do this. Many homeschoolers end up homeschooling their own children.
Congratulations to you and your wife for surviving it all. And the very best of luck in your counter-cultural outpost.
Aurelius writes:
I really adore your blog. You articulate sentiments that I’ve always felt regarding the absurdities of the pomo culture. Just out of curiosity though, and I realize this is a wee bit personal, but are you Anglican by any chance? I noticed that many of your posts sound awfully–though not exclusively–Catholic (i.e. that life begins at conception, stance against abortion, Catholic iconography), yet some of your posts rail against the Catholic hierarchy, which made want to guess at the closest thing after Catholicism.
Laura writes:
Thank you very much.
No, I am Catholic. I have railed against the progressive revolution within the Church, but not against its enduring values and teachings, for which I have the utmost respect and reverence.
Katherine writes:
Your website has been a kind of consolation to me over the past two years while I was caring for my husband. He passed away last August after a long, painful battle with metastatic and recurrent prostate cancer. I am finding that being a widow at 65 involves continuing to go against the culture . . . feeling very much a stranger in a strange land, much as I did when I was a full-time mother and housewife homeschooling our two children. So I do look forward to reading your website. God bless you!
Laura writes:
Thank you.
My deepest sympathy and consolations to you on the death of your spouse. May he rest in eternal peace.
No one will hand you a medal or award for all your work as caring mother and wife. But you must know that you have done the right thing. I hope you find others who are every bit as much strangers in a strange land. Your alienation is a sign of health. The life of a cultural dissident is not easygoing, but the alternative is much worse.
