Havel had a goal to bring democracy to a small nation steeped in turmoil and communist tradition and so he wrote of it despite the threats of leaders and the well-meant warnings of his friends. Vaclac Havel was a hardy soul though he did spend years in prison for his words. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. 2 Vaclac Havel is now the president of his beloved country, the Czech Republic, the first democratically-elected president and the first writer to so inspirationally serve. It's what Westerners have done with hardiness, I think, breathing in a way of life and exhaling it as something every western writer can aspire to and every reader can admire.
Western heroes commit, know what they control and learn from challenge.
They drive the herd to Montana with integrity or arrive in Oregon with hope. They inspire not only our readers but their creators, too. 2 Havel, Vaclac. In early April Jane attended the world premier of a play based on her 1997 book, A Gathering of Finches . 1996 by Jane Kirkpatrick.