Invisible

Early in my teaching career at PSU, I shared an office with a retiring prof. and writer. I liked him. We shared an admiration for Dos Passos' USA trilogy. As I got to know him better, i found a cantankerous bitter old man with no use for the recent Internet or the young writers in fashion or much of anything developed in the last half of the twentieth century. How sad, I thought.

I understand him better today because I feel the frustration he felt when one becomes invisible in the culture's perpetual rush to embrace whatever is new. Dos Passos, an American literary treasure, is ignored and forgotten today. Little wonder those of lesser accomplishment are. This is a frantic consumer-driven culture with an insatiable appetite. The young spend more recklesly than the elderly. Once you stop being a viable consumer, you are dead. You are invisible. And remember, everything, EVERYTHING (including lit) is a commodity.

This is the way it is, and being bitter about it is no more productive than being bitter about the weather. Better to reread Dos Passos and feel sorry for what the majority is missing. Better to count your blessings.

Today's young will become invisible soon enough and join you.