3 things from my interests list: Duty, Harlan Ellison, Loyalty.
Duty and Loyalty first. They go together.
A long time ago, I learned about Aristotle’s trinity of virtue: Compassion, Temperance and Courage. Compassion is the ability to understand the suffering of others. Temperance is the ability to say “no.” Courage is the ability to know that some things are more important than you.
These are Aristotle’s big three. I can’t really argue with those.
On the other hand, there are his other virtues. One of them is Duty.
Duty is the compulsion we feel to do what we feel is right. Compassion, Temperance and Courage are virtues, but Duty is our desire to be virtuous. Aristotle argued that every human being feels this compulsion, but weakness leads us away from proper action.
Loyalty is something else. Not Aristotle, but the virtue I learned reading the Arthurian romances. The difficult path–the sword bridge–between duty and love. Selflessness and desire. All the romances–all of them–break down to this basic conflict. Loyalty to your liege or the love of your heart.
That particular conflict still fascinates me. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored exploring it.
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Now. Harlan.
I met him. Briefly. The Museum of TV & Radio in LA. He was there as part of a “Speculative Fiction on TV” talk along with a bunch of other people. Afterward, he was signing books. I bumbled the whole thing. I wanted to say something important. Bumbled.
Harlan is a brilliant, troubled man. Medicated now, he’s better. I understand that kind of pain. Compassion. His writing pushes me to be better. And his refusal to compromise on what he believes is right.
It’s interesting to hear people talk about who he hates. Ask the right people, he hates whites, blacks, women, Jews, whatever. When I ask those people, “Have you read what he actually wrote?” they usually lie and tell me they have. A few quick questions and I know they haven’t.
He’s funny. He’s scary. More than that, I think he cares too much. So much, it hurts him. And it hurts the people around him. I know how that feels, too.