Scott Russell Sanders

“I choose to write about my experience not because it is mine, but because it seems to me a door through which others might pass.”
–Scott Russell Sanders

Is this to say that people can relate to the experiences or that he wants them to. In “Under the Influence” the point of view is relatable. We’ve all been ten years old and angry at something. I think most people at some point have issues with their parents. While Sander’s issues are perhaps a little more extreme than most, he does not ask for pity for himself. If he does as for pity, it’s for his father. The attractive thing about this essay is the sympathy given to the situation and the lack of pity being sought. My girlfriend’s dad in highs school was similar to Sanders’ father. He was a Kentucky mountain man who gathered wood to make moonshine as a boy. He is a strong man, a proud man, funny if you can hear through his briar mumble. He went by Dave, but that wasn’t his real name. I can’t remember his real name, but it was something silly like Melvin, maybe.
Why am I writing this? I don’t know. Like the real name of an ex-girlfriend’s dad, I can’t remember. I think I’m just jotting the only personal experience with someone suffering from alcoholism that I have. Why I’m doing that when we’re really writing about the “singular First Person” I don’t know. Am I passing through that door? Not directly, but with his flannel jacket and flaming pipe in pocket, Dave might be helping.
There is a ten year old boy telling me his life, but what can I share in return? Any wisdom or sympathy I have for him would be a decade or two too late. While I would think about my response, the ten-year-old in front of me would vanish to his room or to the back yard. I stand unsure how far I am to follow, or where he leads me.