Not quite " narcissism " (to Dave Brussat@Projo.com)

I think Dave in the column Tony refers to was really just

expressing the Average Male's anxiety about being perceived as a

less productive member of society without that powerful status

symbol - MY CAR .

Tony's letter was for me good reading. But I have concluded that

people who write routinely for the public better have huge reserves

of HUMILITY.

I do not own a car myself. But I am no St. Francis in my

inner mental world.

Anyway - was that Brussat I spotted at the bus stop in Kennedy

Plaza ? Narcissism conquered !

Ron

- - - - - -- - -

response from Dave Brussat:

Ron - First off, it is, after all, the devil who's telling me that I'll
be a worm, a nobody, that I might as well live at Travelers Aid. It surely
isn't MY opinion that giving up one's car implies all that, but I have to deal
with the fact that many in society feel that way. Second, by the end of the
column it's clear I'm leaning toward "wormhood," which I obviously wouldn't be doing if I believed that!
Of course, Tony takes umbrage at the idea that, whoever might be saying
it, worms and Travelers Aid clients belong in the same sentence together, or
that they are in any way parallel. In this he is both right and wrong. No,
people aren't worms, even if they are destitute; but yes, I do and he must
realize that destitute people are at the low end of the social pecking order.
(I'm sure I don't need to describe to you why such a social pecking order is
necessary, and even inevitable, and that the poorest among us are, other
things being equal, likely to be near the bottom.
Though he makes a good rhetorical point and drives his truck through the
opening I left for him to do so, he errs in supposing that I believe that the
situation I am in, and the difficulty of the decision I must make, in any way
compare to the problems of the people he describes who, I would presume, often end up at Travelers Aid. But, as a columnist, I address the issues I address
in my own way. Fact is, I don't address questions of how the nation should
solve the problem of poverty. That's not my bailiwick. I have strongly held
(and, I narcissistically suppose, strong) ideas on the subject, but I don't
belabor my readers with them. But, naturally, I think the problems I face are
worthy of addressing, even if they are not the most difficult or important
problems in the world. I don't write about the world. I write about
Providence, and indeed only a slice of Providence and its concerns. Somebody's gotta do it.
Anyway, there you have it. But an entertaining, well-written letter. One
always must resist the inclination to append an editor's note to correct the
letter-writer's errors, but in this case it would have taken too long, and I
was able to resist.
- Dave