A very long quote
Jan. 9th, 2008 01:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rayjwinteravenI got it from http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/blog/2006_11_01_archive.html and am putting it behind a cut, because it's long. But it's also powerful
Author James Michener learned about the importance of greatness
on a stormy night in the South Pacific. His plane was trying
desperately to land on the Tontouta airstrip but could not do so.
After several attempts in the dark of night, his knuckles were
white with fear. When they finally landed safely, Michener went
out and walked the length of the airstrip, looking at the dim
outlines of the mountains they had so narrowly missed. He wrote
this:
"And as I stood there in the darkness I caught a glimpse of the remaining years of my life and I swore an oath when peace came, if I survived, I would live the rest of my years 'as if I were a great man.' I did not presume to think that I would be a great man. I have never thought in those terms, but I could conduct myself as if I were. I would adhere to my basic principles. I would bear public testimony to what I believed. I would be a better man. I would help others. I would truly believe and act as if all men were my brothers. And I would strive to make whatever world in which I found myself a better place. In the darkness a magnificent peace settled over me, for I saw that I could actually attain each of those objectives, and I never looked back.
"Two immediate consequences: I started the next day to draft the book TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. And shortly thereafter my entire staff, flying back to Tontouta, hit one of those shadowy mountains and all were killed. I'd had cause to be white-knuckled."
Author James Michener learned about the importance of greatness
on a stormy night in the South Pacific. His plane was trying
desperately to land on the Tontouta airstrip but could not do so.
After several attempts in the dark of night, his knuckles were
white with fear. When they finally landed safely, Michener went
out and walked the length of the airstrip, looking at the dim
outlines of the mountains they had so narrowly missed. He wrote
this:
"And as I stood there in the darkness I caught a glimpse of the remaining years of my life and I swore an oath when peace came, if I survived, I would live the rest of my years 'as if I were a great man.' I did not presume to think that I would be a great man. I have never thought in those terms, but I could conduct myself as if I were. I would adhere to my basic principles. I would bear public testimony to what I believed. I would be a better man. I would help others. I would truly believe and act as if all men were my brothers. And I would strive to make whatever world in which I found myself a better place. In the darkness a magnificent peace settled over me, for I saw that I could actually attain each of those objectives, and I never looked back.
"Two immediate consequences: I started the next day to draft the book TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. And shortly thereafter my entire staff, flying back to Tontouta, hit one of those shadowy mountains and all were killed. I'd had cause to be white-knuckled."
