Julia is widely beloved; part of the new ascendancy in the Appalachians – poet, sculptor, philosopher, mother and grandmother who doesn’t dote so much as liberate. Her appeal evokes Isaiah Berlin’s remark about David Bruce: “Everyone behaved better and thought better of themselves in his presence.” So it is in Julia’s presence.
Naturally I visit her house in the mountains whenever she’ll allow it. “I want to be a recluse and you won’t let me,” she smiled. Even when she’s distancing from you, there’s grace. Like now, when too many people and projects want her time. She’s asking me to leave her alone until I drift back onto her screen of recognition. I’m debating whether to accept this demotion from friend to acolyte. Shall I wait in line to see her, forlorn as some princeling waiting in line for a regency nod?
There are people for whom one waits in line. Splendid people in whose presence you become splendid.
Julia, for her part understands the obligation of being admired, but isn’t sure she’s up to it.
“It’s easier to love everybody than to be loved by everybody,” she remarked wistfully. Noblesse oblige, she knows, is both an invitation to grace and a royal pain and sometimes a wave from the balcony is all you can give.
[Gibson hosts Pickens County’s Friday Morning Discussion Group. All attitudes are welcome. For info: 770-893-2578.]
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