Let me tell you about my morning. I got out of bed around 6:30, made a bowl of cereal and some coffee, and read a short essay about Dorothy Day by a writer named James M. Lang in the latest issue of Commonweal magazine. It seems that Ms. Day viewed herself primarily as a writer, but was so distracted by the cares of the world (not her cares, but the cares of the poor and marginalized with whom she surrounded herself) that she never quite was able to find enough time for her writing. At one point, she interrupted her extraordinary life to enter a long-term retreat at a Dominican convent, but found that her mind wandered too much for her to settle into a life of contemplative prayer. Before long, she left the retreat and returned to the Catholic Worker community, where she resumed her mission of caring for those in need and working for social justice. As Lang describes it, the needs of those around Day were the distractions that kept her from her chosen vocation of writing, and they inspired the work that in turn has inspired her millions of admirers (myself included).
Day, Eliot, and the Meaning of Distractions
Day, Eliot, and the Meaning of Distractions
Day, Eliot, and the Meaning of Distractions
Let me tell you about my morning. I got out of bed around 6:30, made a bowl of cereal and some coffee, and read a short essay about Dorothy Day by a writer named James M. Lang in the latest issue of Commonweal magazine. It seems that Ms. Day viewed herself primarily as a writer, but was so distracted by the cares of the world (not her cares, but the cares of the poor and marginalized with whom she surrounded herself) that she never quite was able to find enough time for her writing. At one point, she interrupted her extraordinary life to enter a long-term retreat at a Dominican convent, but found that her mind wandered too much for her to settle into a life of contemplative prayer. Before long, she left the retreat and returned to the Catholic Worker community, where she resumed her mission of caring for those in need and working for social justice. As Lang describes it, the needs of those around Day were the distractions that kept her from her chosen vocation of writing, and they inspired the work that in turn has inspired her millions of admirers (myself included).