Howard Mansfield
author of 13 books about preservation, architecture, and history; on the Board of Trustees of the New Hampshire Historical Society; given Gold Medal for Commentary for City and Regional Magazines, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Franklin Pierce University; his work has appeared in Threepenny Review, Doubletake, Orion, New Letters Quarterly, Metropolis, West Hills Review, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Kansas City Star, Chicago Tribune, International Herald Tribune, and many others
The Ask
In small towns, and society in general, we live by the Don’t Ask. We let our neighbors pursue their lives, in happiness or sorrow. We don’t interfere; we don’t snoop. We ask each other for time, respect, patience, understanding, visibility, and invisibility. Look at us, look away. Invisibility is essential. We avert our gaze. We mute our curiosity. We give our neighbors the room to live. We don’t question their contradictions. When I was younger I would have called this hypocrisy. Now I think it may be kindness, or just the mercy we show each other. It is, however, tangled up in false telling, and you have to refuse a numb acceptance of cruelty and suffering.
from Summer Over Autumn: A Small Book of Small-Town Life by Howard Mansfield (Bauhan Publishing)
