Publisher's Synopsis
If you were to ask me why Mr. MacKay wrote this book of essays and short stories and indeed all his books, I could not give you a simple answer. Yes, it is complicated but the poem by Sam W. Foss, 'The House by the side of the road' will give part of his reason as clearly as can be given, from one soul to another as I see it: 'There are Hermit souls that live withdrawn, in the place of their self-content; there are souls like stars, that dwell apart, in a fellowless firmament; there are pioneer souls that blaze their paths where highways never ran- but let me live by the side of the road and be a friend to man. 'Let me live in a house by the side of the road, where the race of men go by. The men who are good and the men who are bad, as good and as bad as I. I would not sit in the scorner's seat, or hurl the cynic's ban- let me live in a house by the side of road and be a friend to man....' Mr. MacKay claims he is but a mote of dust blown thither and yon by the winds of time and circumstance and that is all; nothing more; nothing less. We humans have the potential for greatness as well as failure. No need to follow him, or agree with him, since he is as flawed as you and I are. Think for yourself is a maxim offered in his writing. Mr. MacKay has often been heard to say these words: 'Emotional religious belief, regardless of name or title which is offered without facts or truth, is the sink hole of the human mind.' NORA COOK SMITH
