A New Beginning
“…Love gives peace on earth and calms the stormy deep, who stills the winds and bids the sufferer sleep… This is he [love] who empties men of disaffection and fills them with affection, who makes them gather at banquets such as these; in sacrifices, feasts, dances — he is our lord— desired by those who have no part in him, and precious to those who have the better part in him.”
Those words, how lofty and noble they might be on their face, take on a much more noble meaning when looking at the context of which they were spoken.
Those words were supposed to have been spoken by Greek thinker Agathon. Those words were spoken on the eve of the Peloponnesian war, a war which would ravage both Greek lands and Greek culture. Agathon’s witness is something that confronts our time with a question: in the times of a global pandemic and country-wide riots and protests, what value is there in continuing to ponder (or in some cases beginning to ponder) some of the unseen human truths, like love, or beauty, or even truth itself. For Agathon, and all his accompanying philosopher friends, they are a testament, I think, for the unwavering commitment to the pursuit of all things noble, beautiful, and true, despite that they may be lost, a commitment I think quite relevant to our pandemic, riot-plagued times.
Which brings me to my point, I have committed to opening up a bookstore in Statesboro, Ga within three years: Two Story Books
I make the parallel because we are certainly living in uncertain times. In my life, because I doubted I would have a job this fall, I doubted that I’d have students to teach, and I currently ponder what the long-term ramifications of this pandemic will have on our economic and social lives. Yet, in a tragically ironic turn of events, the pandemic allowed me to take the first step towards this dream.
When Covid-19 began to plague the national news cycle, and we saw headline after headline of new case counts, new business mandates, and in some cases, business closures, Statesboro was largely unaffected. Then, the NBA cancelled their season. Then, March Madness. Then, in-person lectures at Universities across the country, and before long, the whole world was living life through zoom.
My school made the decision to finish the school year online in mid-march, and because of that, I had moved the bulk of my teaching to mandatory zoom lectures/ discussions on various days throughout the week. Zoom, as well as slashed interest rates, might be the only reason I was able to close on the property at this time of my life. I had always had a vague plan to look at purchasing a house in Statesboro after Graduate school (Statesboro has long felt like home). But with the more flexible schedule zoom allowed, the historically low interest rates, insanely supportive parents, and that pesky thought in the back of my mind that this might be my best shot at something great in this short life I’ve been given, I looked, I found, and I bought…
So what’s with the Greek stuff? I hinted at the parallel with the pandemic, but an extension of it can be found in a Washington Post Headline from. June, 1st, coincidentally the day I closed on the property. The headline, reads “Anger, Unrest Sweep Across U.S: National Guard widens presence as clashes fan out beyond Minnesota.”
The piece went on, displaying pictures of riots and protests plaguing across the major cities of America. Photographs of smashed windows, spray-painted statues, and burned trash cans litter the piece. As I read, I can remember thinking to myself. This is the day I begin bringing this high-in-the-sky bookstore dream slowly to the ground.
For those that know me, this idea should not come at a surprise. But as I see things now, even if I won the lottery I would very much like to continue my career teaching as I oversee this startup. Continuing to teach those wonderful high-schoolers while Working closely with a shop manager during the school year, spending my evenings at the shop fostering a night-life culture, and devoting 70-80 hour weeks during “Summer Vacation” months working to creatively expand the business seems like the ideal way to spend my 20’s.
