Quantity and Discipline after Belief in Value

I've just finished listening to Ted Koppel's recitation of his book Off Camera. It was like reading the journal entry of someone who wasn't all that excited to be writing. But what impressed me was the discipline it took to write it. Koppel picks a topic, no matter how unimpressive, and reflects on it for a whole coherent entry. Judging from his writing and his thought processes, this is a man who chews his food thoroughly before swallowing. But as unimpressive as an inidividual entry may have been (his early reflections on President Bill Clinton's scandal in office come to mind), the collection of entries were nevertheless consistent as a unified product - an informed examination of whatever daily occurence, global or personal, had gotten stuck in the formidably critical synapses of his mind.

As I was finishing the book, I began to compare, as I often do when reading accounts of others, I began to compare and contrast myself against Koppel. I do this, I am convinced, to see if I might take away some positive aspect of his nature and incorporate it into my own. Clearly, the man is educated, but so am I. The difference is Koppel finds a way to exercise his education with his journalism. In this book, he flexes his formal training and seasoned journalism to deliver quantity - the guarantor of quality.

As with all exercise, the undisciplined need not apply. What was it that made Koppel sit down and reflect on his childhood, european conflict, public fascination, the nature of journalism, etc. for a whole book? The answer may be as simple as a publisher's advance, or a contract, or some other non-profound condition, only Koppel knows. However, the answer that struck me was that he must have a belief in the value of his mind: belief in value are the key words. How else would he have applied his mind for an entire year.

So that's what I take away from Koppel -- belief in my own value. That's what I have resolved to take from Koppel's book and to infuse into my own mind, and then discipline, and then quantity, and then quality -- starting with this blog.

What I propose paints a wonderfully fractal, reflexive circle of butterfly logic: We shall see if my reslove to believe in the value of the belief in my own resolve is visible to all.