Constancy in character

While I wish Mr. Paul Greenberg well, I am saddened to see him go. I came to this state from the blighted rust belt the same year he began his tenure with this paper, and over the years I have appreciated some of his qualities, which have remained constant, and qualities which I fear are scarce on the ground these days.

To begin with, he writes well. Hemingway once noted that his goal every day was to write one true sentence, and Montaigne once apologized for a lengthy essay because he had not the time to revise it properly. Mr. Greenberg walks the same side of the street. He and I are of a generation that learned to write with pencils, pens, and manual typewriters. It is a slow and labor-intensive process which tends to encourage deliberation and clarity of thought. He realizes that economy of style does not mean paucity of thought. It often runs otherwise: excessive verbiage as a mask for little thought.

Secondly, he understands that civic engagement is necessary for democracy, and that civic engagement requires civility. Nothing is gained by demonizing those with whom we differ. A culture that can only talk past each other, or shout at each other, and not talk with each other sooner or later falls into chaos, and you end up with an Iraq or a Syria. Mr. Greenberg always writes as a gentleman, with charity, and in the hope of knowledge.

Finally, he realizes that for all our faults God shall “mend thine every flaw,” as our great national hymn puts it, that this country remains, to borrow from Lincoln, mankind’s “last, best hope,” and that if we put aside our malice and exercise a little charity towards all, we can make that hope endure. Mr. Greenberg has faithfully done his part.

STEWART DIPPEL

Clarksville