Reflections From a Murky Pond

When one thinks of H. P. Lovecraft, if one does think of him at all, one thinks naturally of his Cthulhu Mythos. That’s unsurprising since Lovecraft is heralded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writers of horror fiction of the twentieth century and the Cthulhu Mythos was the centerpiece of his writing. Lovecraft, however, wrote more than just horror. He also published a journal heavily focused on sociopolitical thought, The Conservative.

H. P. Lovecraft’s The Conservative had little no nothing to do with eldritch horrors. It was a journal edited and self-published sporadically by H. P. Lovecraft between 1915 and 1923. Some of its pieces were written by Lovecraft himself, but many of them were written by others. They included not just political and social commentary on the issues of the day, but also poetry, short stories and literary criticism.

The period in time covered by The Conservative coincided with some of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century, including the First World War and the Russian Revolution.

It’s quite the interesting read.

Note, however, that I said it was an interesting read. It is not an easy one; not at all. It is firmly grounded in the society, issues, and history of a century ago. Still, I wholeheartedly recommend it as an addition to any American’s library.

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In truth, many people love the light and fear the darkness. Yet darkness has its own rede and strictures…and its own particular beauty.

And you know what some people say – “The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.”

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Congratulations to all those born between the 1930’s and early 1980’s! You seem to have won the temporal-genetic lottery, having been born in the right times.

Congratulation!

First off, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried you. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then, after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets – not to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking. As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van or pickup truck – loose – was always great fun. You drank water from the garden hosepipe, not from a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this. You ate cakes, white bread and real butter, and drank pop with sugar in it, but you weren’t overweight because…… YOU WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

You would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as you were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach you all day. And you were OK. You would spend hours building your go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, you learned to solve the problem .

You did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all; no 99+ channels on cable; no video tape movies; no surround sound; no mobile phones; no text messaging; no personal computers; no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….YOU HAD FRIENDS and you went outside and found them!

You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents you played with worms (well most boys did) and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although you were told it would happen, you did not poke out any eyes. You rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that! The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. You had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and you learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for what they claim is our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

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