There is a segment in the closing pages of SEABISCUIT in which the author,
Laura Hillenbrand, answers questions put to her by a newspaper columnist.
I think this portion of the volume touched me as much as the manuscript itself.
The columnist asked her about her early influences and literary models; who
they were, and how they effected her. She gives an unexpected answer.
“I think I decided I wanted to be a writer one summer afternoon in my
childhood, when the neighborhood pool I was swimming in was temporarily
closed due to lightning. I snatched up my towel and huddled on a big porch
with the other kids, waiting out the storm. A man I had never seen before
sat down on a plastic lawn chair near me, brought out an illustrated copy
of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and offered to read it. Most of the
kids left, but a few of us stayed to listen, sitting cross-legged on the
floor around him. As he read, I fell so deeply into the narrative that the
thunderstorm around me seemed to be rushing out of the words themselves.
My head was ringing with those words as I walked home. Suddenly, I understood
my destiny, and I realized I wanted to be a writer. I never knew who this
man was, but I owe him more than I could ever repay.”
I think the last paragraph is almost magical. I found myself weeping as I
read it. For this is a marvelous example of what I’ve always called
“Momentary Ministry.” And to think that this “man without a name” had the
awesome privilege of impacting a child who would become one of the great
writers of our time! “The man with no name” found himself in a momentary
time and place to influence a few, and for his great love of literature
gave unselfishly of himself, with no agenda other than his love for words,
and the audience who could be influenced by them.
Even if that audience was just a few children by a pool on a stormy day.
And oh how this nameless fellow influenced young Laura Hillenbrand.
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