Thomas a’ Kempis be stealing my ideas! He wrote The Imitation of Christ, of which I can vouch for the excellence of the first three chapters. And one of his favorite phrases is Ama Nesciri, “love to be unknown” — or a catchier version, “love the obscurity”. Doesn’t that sound fine? It sounds like a Gatorade commercial.

AMA NESCIRI — love the obscurity

Maybe I will not blame him for stealing my ideas. Maybe I will chalk it up to us both trying to, ha, imitate Christ. The Pharisees, he says, “love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues” — but we love the obscurity! Because it prevents us obscuring Him (like a fly on your telescope lens).

To say truly, though, I find myself wanting desperately to drop subtle hints about my heroic deeds, so that at least a few people will know I’m so awesome. But now that I know the Latin word for it, I am confident I can do a better job! And I will keep you posted when I read more things about Ama Nesciri, as I intend.

P.S. Speaking of heroic deeds, I got married!