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In 1973, American writer Alvin White, author of the Elements of Style stylistic guide to the English language and the Pulitzer Prize-winning children’s books Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, received a poignant letter from a stranger telling him that he had lost faith in humanity. Seventy-four-year-old White has found the words to bring hope in dark times.
Dear Mr Nado,
As long as at least one honest man lives on earth, as long as at least one woman capable of compassion lives on earth, evil can infect us like a virus, but it cannot defeat the world. Hope is given to us to get through the dark times. I will wake up on Sunday morning and, as usual, wind the clock – this is my contribution to the order and stability of the universe.
Read more:
- Anselm Grün: “Believing is having faith in a person”
Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is bluffing. I think the same can be said about human society – the situation may seem worse than ever to us, but suddenly a gap appears in the clouds, and everything changes at once. Yes, it is obvious that the human race has brought a lot of chaos and evil into life on this planet. But I would like to believe that we also carry the seeds of goodness in ourselves – they have been lying in the depths for a long time and are only waiting for suitable conditions to sprout. The thirst for knowledge inherent in man, his ruthlessness in the pursuit of goals, unwillingness to give up and give in, his ingenuity and originality have already cost him considerable losses. One can only hope that these same traits will help him get out.
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- From despair to hope
Hold on to yourself. Hold on to hope. And wind up the clock, because tomorrow is a new day.
Yours sincerely,
Alvin White
Read more:
- Write a letter to yourself
* «Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience» (Chronicle Books, 2014).