To: AV Press
Date: 01/2004
Re: Growing Up (Stick with it, Keltner!)
Explanatory foreword: Actually, standing alone this letter makes little sense and I do not have a copy of the triggering column that would put it into perspective. However I allot it a bit of server space because I at the time harbored a soft spot for the young man whose writings initiated it. Read between the lines, if you will.
Matthew Keltner started writing regularly for our local paper while he was in high school and is now (2005) young adult/college age. All I know about him has come from reading his evolving missives in the paper, which have displayed to an unusual degree the difficult and painful battle between blind youthful idealism and an intelligent mind unable to ignore the sometimes unpleasant truths that it encounters.
The reason I am particularly enamored of Mr. Keltner is that he shows every sign of having the mental balls to continue a life of acknowledging and incorporating reality rather than simply following the majority who cheerfully ignore reality by surrendering to the soft, seductive embrace of some knee-jerk dogma.
Armchair analysis? Yep, but hopefully, just maybe, it is correct. Good luck, Matt Keltner.....
Evolution and progression in outlook is a natural and admirable process for a young person. In this connection I note that Matt Keltner has published another of the periodic re-descriptions of his socio-political outlook, this time headlining himself as a "moderate communitarian".
Words unfortunately mean different things to different people, for instance his latest description of what he stands for sounds almost exactly like what I would write about myself . Well, maybe I'd leave out the anti-death penalty part, and painful experience has soured me on the practice if not the concept of organized labor. Also when he talks about a group (gays and lesbians) having "full rights" I am sure he actually means "special additional rights" and thus leaves me again.
Anyway, you never know about words, but I just hope the collectivism espoused under Matt's communitarian collective isn't expanded to further collect MY stuff!