I wish to descend in the social scale. High society is low society. I am a social climber climbing downward. And the descent is difficult.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

We find this quote from the great Lawrence Ferlinghetti, recently-departed poet and founder of San Francisco’s legendary City Light’s Bookstore, SO refreshing. He hungers for the opposite of the upward mobility so valued today, with the mighty implication that there is much more that is interesting, illuminating and of value to be found “climbing downward”…

…moving toward what is the most authentic realm we can find…

Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem plaque near the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco Chinatown’s Jack Kerouac Alley. Goodshoped35110s, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

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