It takes one to know one

Gerard Van der Leun is outing "Dr. Bob," a Seattle-area blogger, as another really good writer. American Digest linked to The Doctor Is In a few weeks back with his remarkable detailed look at the construction of a bridge. This morning he published a near-encomium. This snip is all I need to cite:

...Dr. Bob who describes himself as " a physician in the Pacific Northwest, the fortunate husband of his wife of thirty years and father of three remarkable children. Blessed by the grace of God with the great privilege of knowing His Son, and having experienced the limitless depths of His mercy, patience and forgiveness, he desires to serve Him and others well."

To the "professionals" of the New York/Los Angeles publishing suckupathon, that description contains at least five varieties of kryptonite: "fortunate husband," "father of three," "Blessed by the grace of God," "knowing His Son," "desires to serve Him and others well."

I know from bitter experience that the only way such a description would be read at a New York literary cocktail party would be in a sardonic tone to the amusement of the guests. Those would be the same guests who will return to their various publishing jobs and wonder why they don't seem to be able to sell their old whines in their new bottles like they used to.

These are the words of a man who has been there and done that, who knows whereof he speaks. He concludes with, and I agree...

See The Downward Spiral, or The Children Whom Reason Scorns. or Thoughts on End of Life, or his surprising and masterful multipart work on the building of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, The Two Towers - Pt I. Instead of hopping about from insta-item to rant-o-matic, why not spend some time today with the doctor. You'll see exactly what I mean.