Here is my word about subscriptions. It’s about signing one’s name to a document.
You may have signed your name at the end of a document with words to this affect:
Subscribed and sworn before me on this ___ Day of _____, _____.
To be precise, today’s title is redundant because a person always signs below the words of the document — sub = below, underneath, scribe = to write, or a person who is literate and writes down what was dictated.
I am grateful for you who have subscribed to Mind the Gap. We have left the age of parchment, quill, and ink, but the idea goes on. You’ve signed on to this journey of discovery in the world of ideas.
I am part of a tradition that works at being faithful to the faith that was handed down from the believers of old, going back to a time when that tradition was only oral, not yet written down. Before even the time of cave paintings like this one.
And it continues into this age of images, including graffiti.
It is the act of inscribing, writing, and subscribing that keeps this living tradition going.
My plan for this column is to never set up a pay wall. If you want to contribute, find meaningful places to donate for the good of your neighbor.
After many decades of life, I am at a place where I can live out this wise counsel.
Freely you have received, freely give.
Be well.
Next week: When subscriptions changed the world as it had been known.