Comments on: Enough for Today

By: margot sheehan

margot sheehan — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:16:49 +0000

I was made uncomfortable by the thought there was some autobiographical material here. But I hate clowns.

By: Marjorie Tesser

Marjorie Tesser — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:43:54 +0000

Nuanced, affecting story.

By: John Bowers

John Bowers — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:29:23 +0000

Derek,

It is stark and well-written, powerful because so much is between the lines and hidden, the way Hemingway did it. Love can be devastating and without a cure and you make me realize it all over again. The father is humanized by his touch on John’s shoulder at the end, and the clown represents more than just being a clown.

By: debra monroe

debra monroe — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:20:39 +0000

An entire lifetime implied by a few minutes of dialogue–masterful.

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:24:16 +0000

Derek, I’m blown away with this story. Like my life there were no answers to the questions. It’s infuriating to be left not knowing…Give me more, please.

By: grace

grace — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:10:45 +0000

Ouch! I’ve been in conversations like that, where you feel like you may be talking to a robot. You capture the frustration of that well!!!

By: Renee

Renee — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:21:32 +0000

Oh, Derek! I’m with John on the clown thing… Good story but sad. The compassion at the end is a lovely thing. How do children survive parents like this? It’s a miracle.

By: Robin Mizell

Robin Mizell — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:07:44 +0000

Derek: Some professions can be dehumanizing, and those of us who enter them tend to have an abnormal capacity for controlling or suppressing emotion. Was Dr. Melcamp envious of his son John's ability to express what he was feeling? Maybe I'm reading between the lines, but it seems that way to me. I like the story. Hells Bells is a Salon Blog written by the daughter of an experimental psychologist. The blogger is a friend of a friend, who often alerts me to Hells Bells' latest posts. You might enjoy them too.

By: Yobvazy the fierce

Yobvazy the fierce — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:11:58 +0000

Yuo are bright and perceptive. You have human emotions. Your Father was a putz. Sorry that he couldn’t just say I am sorry son, but the human emotions are very strange. Is there anything I can do besides empathize? That is how it should have gone.

By: Steve Kaufman

Steve Kaufman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:52:39 +0000

Your father was not a behaviorist but practiced that school of psychiatry when dealing with you. Obviously, he had no emotions. Some of us believe that a heart is not for fondling, revising, and being lied to. We believe that when a commitment is made, from the heart, that commitment cannot be revised easily because love is not to be trifled with. Your father should have known better. He wasn’t there because somebody trifled with his heart; it went into hiding — not to be seen again. Very good, Derek! Your heart is all there, thank G-d.