I lost two friends from home in a car accident over the weekend. I played baseball with one and graduated with the other. They were a part of my childhood. They were a part of my memories growing up in a small town in Missouri.
My first reaction to the news was one of anger and confusion. Here I am, a long way from the cornfields and ball fields of my youth, and for the second time in three years I receive news that home won’t be the same the next time I visit. “This isn’t part of the deal,” I thought, “I can go away, I can change, but my small town, my home can’t.”
I was wrong. My town has changed. It’s now missing two people who made it what it was.
In a certain way, however, I know that my town today isn’t any different than the one I grew up in. I’m sure that its citizens had their share of heartbreak and tragedy when I was a kid. I was simply too young and too innocent to realize it.
Paul says that we are one bread, one body. As a child, I thought that simply meant we all rejoice together, we all succeed together. Now I see we all suffer, we all mourn together, as well. This week, Plattsburg, Missouri, that town I hold so dear, is doing just that.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
