Topical Guide 89
Mark Dorset
Life, Phases of
The coil-winding was at last complete, the receiver was at last complete, a phase of my life had come to a crisp and clear conclusion. There was no ambiguity, no fuzzy line, no indeterminate point like that between breadness and toastness in Gumma’s toaster, no need for interpolation. This moment marked the end of the work on the radio, and anything to follow, whatever it might be, would be a post-radio-construction event.
Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”
I’m not sure which of Erik Erikson’s phases of psychosocial development Peter thinks he’s been in during the seemingly interminable coil-winding stage in the building of the radio, a phase of his development and a stage in the radio-building process that he is so glad to see at an end (apparently). Most likely—I think, if I’m interpreting correctly—it would be the phase in which industry struggles to overcome inferiority, a phase that is supposed to end in competence. According to Wikipedia, during that phase:
The aim to bring a productive situation to completion gradually supersedes the whims and wishes of play. The fundamentals of technology are developed. …
The child must deal with demands to learn new skills or risk a sense of inferiority, failure, and incompetence. …
Children grasp the concepts of space and time in more logical, practical ways. They gain a better understanding of cause and effect, and of calendar time. …
If children are encouraged to make and do things and are then praised for their accomplishments, they begin to demonstrate industry by being diligent, persevering at tasks until completed, and putting work before pleasure.
Tasks, Sisyphean; Persistence
I knew how many times he had unwound the coil and begun winding it again when he lost count of the windings. …
Guppa picked the coil up and peered at it, as if by looking closely enough he would have been able to remember exactly how many turns of that fine varnished wire he had made. He sighed. “We’ll try again tomorrow,” he said. …
I had to get away from Guppa. There was a lump in my throat, and I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. I felt horribly sorry for Guppa, who so wanted to please and impress me, and I felt sorry for myself, too, for I was now going to have to spend God knows how much longer sitting on the cold metal stool beside Guppa watching him rewind that damned coil.Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”
Perhaps it’s done already, perhaps they have said me already, perhaps they have carried me to the threshold of my story, before the door that opens on my story, that would surprise me, if it opens, it will be I, it will be the silence, where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge (or at least it’s attributed to Calvin Coolidge; I haven’t been able to find a citation for the source)
[more to come on Wednesday, September 15, 2021]
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Amity Shlaes, a Coolidge biographer, thinks he didn't write that last quote: "Those words in fact were printed as filler in newspapers from as early as 1910, often without an author, but they sound so much like Coolidge that people assume he wrote them." https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/significant-papers-5/