Writer exploring culture, technology, life design, and the human experience. Writing at BarryFralick.com
Sunday Notes 9/29/24
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Greetings all. I have a lot to share with you this week. Here are this week's notes. From me: A mystery He was around sixty, I presumed, thinly built with grey hair that, despite being full, desperately needed a comb. He looked away when he talked and appeared socially awkward. The car he was driving, an older Honda, was so rusted it was folding in half in the middle, and when I reached out to shake his hand, he grasped mine with his — two out of five fingers missing. I had decided to do business with this stranger but was unsure of what I had gotten myself into. This man was odd. I was insanely curious. His home was at the end of a mile-long gravel road without a neighbor in sight and would appear abandoned or haunted to the unkeen observer. There was a dilapidated barn in the back and a stone well in the front from which he drew water, and I imagined making a wish. He called himself Hamrock and was the remainder of five who moved to the 300-acre Upstate NY farm in 1970. He said he was a couple of years behind on taxes, and judging by the appearance of scant prosperity, I believed him. I did business with him for two or three years. Each time, acquiring a new piece to the puzzle of who this aloof character was. He had no wife or children but had friends in a nearby town who had known him for years. He owned another large farm about an hour away. He would drive to the next town over on Saturday evenings to visit an inn for a glass of white wine. Despite becoming a regular acquaintance, Hamrock remained a mystery. He would take frequent trips. Seemingly coming and going. Often leaving for days, which left me wondering. Not only because I couldn't imagine where he might be traveling to but because he drove his car. A car that was not fit to leave his gravelly road. One day, he asked me to meet him at his bank as he owed me some money. I parked at the bank, awaiting Hamrock, who arrived shortly after pulling into the drive-thru. He emerged from the other side of the building moments later, parking next to me. He handed me cash and said, "Wait a minute." He opened the trunk of his car, rummaging through piles of stuff, eventually pulling out a book and handing it to me. "Here, this is for you," he said. The book was a regional golf course guide. On the history and design of courses throughout the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate NY. How to play each hole, and commentary regarding each course's level of difficulty. It was written by Hamrock, a Harvard graduate with a degree in Golf Course Design, caddie to the PGA, LPGA, and Senior Tour both domestically and internationally. Hamrock became vaguely less mysterious that day. -- A quote: The function of the rebel is to shake the fixated mores of the rigid order of civilization; and this shaking, though painful, is necessary if the society is to be saved from boredom and apathy. Obviously I do not refer to everyone who calls himself a rebel, but only to the authentic rebel. Civilization gets its first flower from the rebel.
— Rollo May
-- Culture: The Lost Art of Waiting We, as a society, are losing our ability to delay gratification, to patiently plan ahead. We value the new and the now, which is having a disturbing impact on—among other things—the realm of public discourse. In the media, we have come to prefer reaction to deliberation. We respect expertise less, because it takes time to develop and mature. In a culture used to immediate, brief responses, considered responses are often drowned out by a chorus of louder, less-informed voices. -- Interesting: Peanut Butter -- Well said: Comedian Bill Murray on treating others. People think because they employed you they’re allowed to treat you like a dictator, or whatever the worse word for dictator is. And that’s always been a problem for me. Opening the door for someone behind you is as important as designing a building. On taxes. The best way to teach your kids about taxes is by eating 30% of their ice cream. And on serendipity. I try to be available for life to happen to me. -- From Twitter: The beauty of Autumn around the world via James Lucas -- Lastly, a question worth pondering: What's the best decision you've made this year? That is it for this week's edition. TTYS Barry |
Barry Fralick
Writer exploring culture, technology, life design, and the human experience. Writing at BarryFralick.com
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