'And the Third Is To Be Kind.'

A Palpable Elysium: Portraits of Genius and Solitude (David R. Godine, 2002) is a collection of the late publisher/poet Jonathan Williams' photographs of artists well-known and obscure. Williams was no snob when it came to talent and genius. He photographs Stevie Smith, Guy Davenport (who supplies the introduction) and Elijah Pierce, the barber/woodcarver from Columbus, Ohio. Many became Williams’ friends, including Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and writer much valorized since his death in 1968, often by people for whom he became their token Catholic. My own feelings about Merton are mixed. He flowered in the sixties and embodied many of that decade’s failings. I’ve known Catholic Workers who idolized and others who detested him. 

With each of the portraits Williams includes a brief prose piece, sometimes campy, occasionally straightforward. He recalls introducing Merton to Davenport and the photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard, and excuses himself from writing about Merton’s “spirituality, etc. Dozens of people have gone on, and continue to go on, about that.” He adds:

 

“One gives what comfort one can. If one can be useful, maybe that’s about enough? The most important thing is kindness, said Mr. Henry James. And the second most important thing is kindness. And the third most important thing is kindness . . .”

 

Somewhere in those remarks is a moral ideal, something Williams himself probably never would have articulated. The notion of usefulness has been on my mind of late. Professionally, I’ve felt of little use. I like to think I’m contributing something worthwhile, even passively, to most situations. The James quote is not from a Hallmark card but from James’ nephew Billy, the second son of his brother William. Billy was interviewed by Leon Edel and quoted in the fifth volume of his biography, Henry James: The Master 1901–1916 (1972). Edel recounts the scene:

 

“His vision was of a short, rotund man, with a quick sensibility and a boundless capacity for affection. What he carried away from his elderly uncle was the memory of hearing him say, ‘Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.’”