Thank you, Mr. Twain

Mark Twain is on the brain this weekend. My very sweet colleague, Donna Foster, got me a complete and unabridged copy of five novels by Mark Twain, and I have not thoroughly enjoyed reading a novel the way I have enjoyed reading Huck Finn, this weekend, in a very long time. Benjamin Graham was my Friday night investment and money-management reading. But Mark Twain was reading for the soul.

Much of the world, I think, is consumed and fucked up by status anxiety. That's what I love about Twain. Like me, and Benjamin Graham, he comes from a background where you can't afford status anxiety, because you couldn't afford much of anything else, anyway. Although I have dealt with my share of it, too, as I'm quite sure Mark Twain did as well.

Kim Jong Il, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, most people consumed with power and wealth - although, interestingly enough, one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffet, has built his wealth by not being consumed by the stuff he owns, ironically - struggle, privately, with status anxiety. So do poor people. And middle class people. And educated people. And uneducated people.

It's probably the most common anxiety that all of us feel, at some level. Noone likes it when someone thinks they're better than them. Especially to their faces. Noone.

And, so, sadly, so many people end up living their lives revolved, too much, around this anxiety. Always afraid that someone, somewhere is laughing at them, and thinking they are better than them.

It's kind of sad. And all too true of the human race. And all too responsible for too many, perhaps most, of the problems between us.

How senselessly tragic. And kind of funny, all at once.

Makes reading Huckleberry Finn all the more poignant, while also being a fun ride.

Thanks, Mark. It's nice to know that someone gives a shit that we cut the nonsense out, even as we don't act like we give a shit enough ourselves. Me too. And I'm sure you too. All of us, hopefully, with a commitment to giving it up.