A Few Thoughts on Mr. Rogers and Empathy Through Storytelling
I do have a group promo link to share with y'all where you can find some interesting historical, action/adventure fiction titles that some of you will for sure be interested in reading.
But first, I wanted to say a few things about storytelling and why I write such crazy stories in the first place. I recently saw "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" at the dollar theater. (I don't get out for movies much anymore, but from time to time I take a Friday afternoon off to sneak a quick movie date with my wife.)
If you are my age or even a decade or two older than me, you remember Mr. Rogers. But memory is an interesting beast. How you remember Mr. Rogers will be an interesting mental exercise if you choose to embark upon it. If you are a millennial, Mr. Rogers probably doesn't mean jack to you. But I challenge you to seek out some clips on Youtube.
And I implore EVERYONE, use two hours of your life to watch this movie. As a child I didn't understand how masterfully Mr. Rogers was using things such as silence and discomfort with complex issues to challenge our society to wake up to its darker tendencies and find healing.
He was essentially the first children's personality to emphasize the need for accepting children as they are (not for what they can grow up to be) and for children having a means to explore their feelings about issues such as death, divorce, and war.
The brutal truth is that 50 years later our society needs these coping skills worse than ever.
I deal with adults on a daily basis who have never learned how to cope with anger and fear. We still need Daniel Tiger's help to figure out what is going on inside of us. We need healing. And we need empathy.
Fred Rogers had more empathy in the pinky finger of his left hand than we see displayed publicly in our governments or via our social media feeds over the span of an entire week.
And as painful as this may be for most of us...
We don't even know what to do with Fred Roger's kind of empathy. People just simply aren't supposed to care about people they don't know. People aren't supposed to care about... "them," whoever the "them" might be for us personally.
People aren't supposed to care for us in sacrificial ways. It makes us uncomfortable. It makes us assess ourselves. Mr. Rogers was too thinly veiled. He was just being himself on camera. For kids it was perfect. As an adult, I can feel people squirming.
Fiction can give us similar opportunities to empathize, relate, and cope without being punched to the gut quite so hard.
A fictional character in a story can subtly provide me with a new perspective. A fictional situation can take me outside of my experiences and allow me to try out someone else's shoes without rubbing painful blisters on my feet.
In other words, a healthy exposure to fiction and reading can prepare us for those people and moments in our lives when we are punched in the gut. Reading helps us develop the tools to cope with fear and anger. This is why I write stories.
When I write about a racist Texas Ranger who hates Mexicans and their marijuana but is then forced to compromise his own black-and-white moral code by medicating his seizures with marijuana, I do so quite intentionally and for multiple reasons. I want people to understand that Texas has had a mixed history. Rangers were sometimes valiant. Rangers were sometimes racist. Sometimes our fears, even for substances like marijuana, are irrational. And we are sometimes quick to draw "us and them" boundaries.
No one wants to be preached to on these matters. But when J.T. McCutchen is rescued by a shriveled old native Mexican lady who uses marihuana in his recovery from being beat down by an angry mob, the Reefer Ranger is born in a compelling and entertaining manner. McCutchen ain't no Mr. Rogers, and neither am I. But in my own little way, I hope I am carrying on the same work that Fred Rogers dedicated his life to.
And Now a Group Promo with Several Awesome Titles similar to my Lost DMB Files! I hope you find something you enjoy!
Click on this link to head over and check out 14 historical action/adventure titles that are discounted for this promotional offer. Of course, you'll see Fistful in the group. I've also read Silver and Superstition, a novel published by my company Fiction Vortex, and it's quite thrilling! I recommend it!
In case you missed the last email, I'll be releasing these ten books over the next nine months.
Fistful of Reefer: a Schism 8 Series (Lost DMB Files, Season 1)
The Austin Job: a Schism 8 Series (Lost DMB Files, Season 2)
McCutchen's Bones: a Schism 8 Series (Lost DMB Files, Season 3)
Twitch and Die!: a Schism 8 Series (Lost DMB Files, Season 4)
De Novo Syndrome: a Schism 8 Series (De Novo, Season 1)
Desert Gods: a Schism 8 Series (De Novo, Season 2)
First Relic: a Schism 8 Series (Relic Hunters, Season 1)
Holy City: a Schism 8 Series (Relic Hunters, Season 2)
Chadzitzin: a Schism 8 Series (The Green Ones, Season 1)
Masazin: a Schism 8 Series (The Green Ones, Season 2)
That's almost 1,000,000 words worth of super awesome, action-packed, adventure fiction. Most of you have read some portion of these stories, but none of you have read all of them. Two of these books have never been published. Two of the others have not been widely available. All of them have been re-edited and worked-over for continuity. (The honest truth is I'm a much better writer now than when I first started these books nine years ago, so I've gone over them to bring them all up to speed.)
I altered Fistful of Reefer significantly enough to justify nuking the old version from the Amazon store (and everywhere I could track it down) in order to launch an entirely new version. The downside of this was that I lost the forty reviews it had gathered. Many of you had left those reviews. May they rest in peace...
Now, I'm asking if y'all would be kind enough to post new reviews. (Of all the nerve!) If you've already read Fistful of Reefer, you have a couple of wonderful options that would help me tremendously:Click over to Amazon and leave a new review.Click over to Amazon and buy the new version of the book while it is on sale for $2.99, read the new version that includes bonus episodes, Reefer Ranger and Del Rio Con Amor, and then leave a review.If you haven't yet read Fistful of Reefer, this would be a great time to do so! I'll be releasing the next book in the series (The Austin Job) in a month. Please, click over to Amazon, buy the book, give it a read, and then leave me a review! Hey, I cherish all reviews, even if you want to tell me I suck and you wish you had the chance to punch me in my smug, little face.
Thank you for reading. And thank you for all the human contributions you are making to this crazy world we live in.
Until next time,
Fire in the hole!!!