Today we talk about The Silence of Love, a book by Donald S. Slote published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Donald S. Slote to get to know him better, where and why he found the inspiration to write his book The Silence of Love, as well as how he chose the title of his book
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Where and when did you find the inspiration to write your book?
During a business meeting with some colleagues in 2021. One of my colleagues had seemed a little off, or distant. We usually have a bit of a pre-meeting in a lobby before we start and quite often carries over after the end of the meeting. She had discussed that her mother had passed a year or so prior and that her father had grown distant and had gone missing. We talked many, many times, and with my psychology background (the reason for the consulting work is mostly profiling and analysis of situations) I could not let the story go, I needed to figure out the most plausible outcome of what happened.
- What is the message you want to convey to your readers?
Whether you look or not, there is someone somewhere who cares so much about others that they would sacrifice everything for others, particularly loved ones. Just because someone does not say something to you, does not mean they do not care and have turned their back on your situation. Too often the only way to tell if someone cares about you is with what they are willing to do for you, but not all efforts from many people require praise for their efforts. Some do things out of the kind goodness of their hearts. Some people remain silent while they move about us, not wanting to disturb or burden others or hinder those around them. So often parents are like that with their kids, but their kids never notice the burden that their parents live with, different generations, with different values and struggles. I believe I was born two generations after when I should have been born. My values align with an older generation. I fit in wherever I go, I just feel uncomfortable with the way that people act and treat each other, especially when they do not know each other! Respect and common sense are pretty well gone in this world, and it greatly saddens me and a lot of others.
- What significant stories find expression in your book?
Love and how easily it can go unnoticed, but if someone is willing to listen, they can hear it so clearly! So many people are not interested in any accolades that come along with a good deed, but those good deeds so often go unnoticed by so many because the person only wanted to help and did not want the recognition for their help or kindness, or they did not want to burden anyone else with the problem! It became so easy to use money to try and fix everything around me, but then bad things started happening, and no matter how much money I used, I couldn’t make any of them go away or fix them. The biggest problem I was running into was that none of these problems were my own, but they greatly affected me. The biggest fear, the only fear I have ever had in my life was that I may one day I may not be able to make everything ok for a loved one. Then it happened, both my wife and daughter got the news no one should ever receive! The Cancer news! Money never fixes that, I tried!
- How did you choose the title of your book?
I grew up hearing the word “LOVE” all the time but never seeing it. My wife then got pregnant with our first, and I realized “LOVE” was but a four-letter word that could be said by so many, yet the loudest I ever heard it was when I saw it! Four letters that are so easily said, but so hard to prove! Then one day I was running a charity ten-kilometre race, and one of the entrants was pushing his mentally disabled son in a modified three-wheeled stroller. His son was an adult and there were some big hills to traverse. I offered, at the bottom of one of the hills to help him, but he politely declined and said, “We’ve got this, this is our thing that we do together!” I spoke to him after the race was complete, and he thanked me for my offer of help, but that he and his son had to do these things together from start to finish! I have never seen so much joy on two people’s faces as that father and son! Some people do things purely out of love, no words, just do, in Silence, out of Love!
- Are you working on a new writing project, you can tell us about?
If possible, I would love to share nineteen more stories in a series of Silence of Love books. I have been involved with so many people from around the world and have heard so many truly amazing stories that I would love to pen for anyone to read, along with a few of my own. I can easily say that it has been one hell of a journey over the last fifty-four years, particularly the last thirty or so, and how I have been both lucky and unlucky enough to have experienced so much in that time! I would love to tell a timeline of 23 years as a consultant, and multi-business owner, with all the exploits that came with the jobs. The ups and downs, ins and outs, trials and tribulations involved with navigating through the day-to-day politics of each country we deal with and how all the accomplishments came about. Over 1850 articles, written and printed in newspapers in many different countries, on various noteworthy topics and how they affected me, others, and the world.
Europe Books thanks the author Donald S. Slote once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book The Silence of Love. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my dear reader, may this book allow you to reevaluate that out there, there is someone, somewhere who helps us and supports us, sometimes we don’t see it, sometimes we don’t feel it, but it is right there next to us. Other times instead we realize it and then we thank life and the universe for the gift it has given us.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your Editor!