"i'll build a bridge through the fire..."

So for those of us who would at times be tempted to call ourselves "writers," that is, for those of us who choose to write when there is no assignment; really, for those of us who just love to write; there often come times when the words of other "writers" bring us to a quick and violent realization that there are definitely people in this world who can do much, much more with words than we. In that vein, i am very, very careful to ever use the word "writer" when describing myself. Insert the word "aspiring" and perhaps we have a more accurate picture.

**nerd alert**

The Bronte sisters were geniuses. Absolute geniuses. i won't even try to give any biography here because their respective depths of character overwhelm the scope of this blog. But my younger sister brought the following passage to my attention and i must share it. Profound is not a decent enough word for it. This comes from the preface to the second edition of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Keep in mind this is not the story, not any part of the real book, but merely the preface. In this passage, a mere portion of the preface, she says more than most of us will say in a lifetime. So read it, chew on it, read it again, and let it just sink in your mind a little.

"Having thus acknowledged what I owe those who have aided and approved me, I turn to another class; a small one, so far as I know, but not, therefore, to be overlooked. I mean the timorous or carping few who doubt the tendency of such books as "Jane Eyre:" in whose eyes whatever is unusual is wrong; whose ears detect in each protest against bigotry--that parent of crime--an insult to piety, that regent of God on earth. I would suggest to such doubters certain obvious distinctions; I would remind them of certain simple truths.

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.

These things and deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virtue. Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded: appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ. There is--I repeat it--a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them.

The world may not like to see these ideas dissevered, for it has been accustomed to blend them; finding it convenient to make external show pass for sterling worth--to let white-washed walls vouch for clean shrines. It may hate him who dares to scrutinise and expose--to rase the gilding, and show base metal under it--to penetrate the sepulchre, and reveal charnel relics: but hate as it will, it is indebted to him.

Ahab did not like Micaiah, because he never prophesied good concerning him, but evil; probably he liked the sycophant son of Chenaannah better; yet might Ahab have escaped a bloody death, had he but stopped his ears to flattery, and opened them to faithful counsel."