Toni Dockter: Filosophy with a Fuchsia Flair

Mark Twain died 100 years ago today. He predicted his own death. In 1909 he said:

“I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’”

In 1910, one day after Haley’s comet came closest to the Earth, Mark Twain suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 74.

Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn - Best American 19th Century Novel

I wonder if Mark Twain had ever predicted his lasting popularity. I doubt it. Twain is still read globally, still continues to influence writers.

Hemingway once said that all modern American literature comes from Huckleberry Finn. It was also the first book to use American vernacular and African American culture, which shaped Huck’s voice, the narrator of the novel.

Twain has certainly influenced me. I hadn’t realized how much I knew about his work and life until I attended Hal Holbrook’s “Mark Twain Tonight” performance in Marin a few years back. Mr. Holbrook did not say one thing that I didn’t already know.

I am inspired when I read quotes about his philosophy of life, such as:

“Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist. But you have ceased to live.”

Likewise, I think the tone of Twain’s writing and his commentary about America has influenced my writing. I wrote a paper in college (Comparative Lit class) and the professor wrote on it: “Reminds me of Mark Twain.” BEST COMPLIMENT EVER! [Note: I saved that paper and stored it with my other precious memorabilia in a safe place at my Mom’s. And it was safe, until her place burned to the ground. Oh well…)

When it comes to my writing ambitions, I tell people I’m trying to be the next Mark Twain (as if!!). He tells great stories and writes great with a voice that is witty, intelligent, satirical, humorous, and profound. I realize I have a ways to go. But better to dream big than puny.

Sure, I could sit in an office all day and do stupid stuff and earn a paycheck. Wait, I do do that already. But I also find time to create, which for me is the ultimate way to spend a life.

That’s why I relate to this quote from Mr. Twain:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

So everyday, even if just for a half-hour, I sail away from the confines of drudgery. It is well wroth the effort.

Thanks for the tip, Mr. Twain. And you’d be amazed at yourself: You’ve been dead one hundred years, and yet, you’re still so full of life!

Mark Twain: Laid to rest but not forgotten.

P.S. I wrote a kinda funny scene with Mark Twain in my blog dated 9/12/09.