The Tower (Think the Tarot Card)

"The man in the tower keeps a watchful eye on the distant horizon; he looks beyond the immediate present, beyond the practical needs and comforts of today, into the future. He looks over the roof tops, beneath which we sit in comfort by our own fireside, at the gathering storms on the horizon. And he listens not so much to the roar of traffic down below, as to the still small voices within himself, as he swings his telescope or bends to his microscope, seeking always to understand both the outer and the inner world of man and to signal to those down below the call of better things. These are the poets, the philosophers, the scientists, the thinkers whose observations and interpretations of life provide nourishment for the inner spirit of those who can learn to heed them." (Cook, Luella B. The English Journal, Vol. 48, No. 5 (May 1959) pp. 248)

Before you think I've gone all poetic and literature-elitist on you, let me give you some background info. Luella B. Cook picks at writing as a method of communication, and in order to describe the different ways we communicate and how we are supposed to communicate as individuals, she uses symbolism. Those who communicate mostly at the marketplace are those who are used to communicating socially and at face value. Those who communicate at the hearthstone are used to communicating with themselves and are more introspective. i. e. extroverts and introverts. Then she introduces the concept of the man in the tower; someone who seeks knowledge with the world in mind while in solitude, and then wishes to share the knowledge with the world. They are someone who can seemingly be an introvert and extrovert - an ambivert.

My only complaint is that witches and wizards aren't on that list.

 I adore this passage. For more reasons than one. I took it a little bit to heart because although I don't label myself an ambivert, and I lean a tad more to the introvert side, I know I can be an ambivert. I always thought that being an ambivert was weird. I thought that the love for socializing was a binary concept; you liked it or you didn't.

As I grow older that concept is changing. However, when Luella Cook related being an ambivert to types of people and positions that I think are so cool, that I resonate with, I think calling myself an ambivert may not be so bad.

Another reason this passage is so great is because it's simply written very well. I love Cook's voice when describing the man in the tower, like he's something to be honored. More often than not, people that are philosophers, poets, scientists, teachers, etc., go on doing a thankless job every day. They deserve this taste of a small masterpiece.