The bend
in the river
a view of time by PBS's Roger Rosenblatt
© 2003 by Michael Finley
What an interesting time we are living in. On
January 24 of this year, the O.J. Simpson trial opening arguments were
finally heard. The United States government was in new hands, as the
conservative majority in Congress advanced its Contract with America.
Around the world, a hundred ugly wars were being waged, in well-covered
places like Bosnia and Chechnya, and in more obscure, less well known
places, like Rwanda. Later that night President Clinton would give his
State of the Union address. It was five days from the Superbowl, to be
held in balmy Miami.
In unbalmy Minneapolis at 8:30 am the temperature
was 0°F, and liberal raconteur and PBS essayist Roger Rosenblatt was just
taking the stage to deliver The Masters Forum's 1995 kickoff talk,
mysteriously titled "The Power of the Story."
o O o
He came to talk about stories. About why our
stories are important, and why, in the end, they are all we have. He
talked about the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto, forcibly, suicidally resisting
the German army in 1941. Here were people, he said, who had no hopes. Only
death awaited them, whether by bullet or disease. Yet when the shooting
was over people found handwritten notes carefully hidden away in the
chinks of the walls still standing. There was not even any assurance those
walls would still be standing. Still, people had to tell their stories. My
name is Josef Gold.
For the complete report, click on CLICK TO PAY below
Robert Fulghum