There’s a Reason for My Silence…

The jumping off point, yes/no?

I could blame it on any number of things.

Old age? Yes, I’m old and I’m not getting any younger…

Work issues? When you own your work and the business climate is as tempestuous as it has been for the last year or so, it makes taking the “plunge” seem like a viable solution. For a minute.

Family? To include children, spouse, parent, and dogs? The easiest trouble not to consume me, if you can believe that.

Weather? It changes – I’m good with it.

Health? Still healthy as a horse, knock on wood (Formica, granite, porcelain). Was felled by a bad head cold in early January (no, not CoVid), which managed to keep me down a week, but I bounced back. First malaise since 2019, so I was good.

No… I was discussing this with a few close friends. The current climate both online and in the Real World is so contentious, I don’t opine anywhere. If you’re foolish enough to say something outrageous, questioning, or non-woke, you could find yourself de-platformed and spending a stint in social media jail. This means being cut off from your friends and relatives and followers.

You know me, I’m not about throwing Molotov cocktails and running for cover. But I am salty, I am sassy, and I’m highly opinionated. So with that in mind, I’ve been biting my tongue, again and again and again (and again and again and again). I don’t have the clout of podcast giants. I’ve seen what Wild West Twitter has become (why I’m no longer on that platform, my choice). I can’t weather that kind of abuse, nor do I want to. It’s too easy for online nut jobs to find people in Real Life, especially people who (foolishly) use their own real names because they have nothing to hide. (Like me?) And so self-censorship is a definite thing for me.

*sigh*

So while I’m not completely frozen in Real Life, I kinda-sorta am online. I’ve spent part of the last year or so studying the past, delving into humanity’s past missteps which it looks like from recent events are current missteps. I’ve also been looking way, way, way into the future. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. One of those “rules” you learn in grade school, one that makes more sense than algebra II. History happens in cycles. It’s happening again.

I’ll bet when Suzanne Collins was writing the Hunger Games, she didn’t think civilization would reach the District 13 level of crazy.

These are rough times for artists of all kinds. For the writer, it means you keep writing. Your reach might be truncated, but at this point in my writing career, I’m not looking for worldwide acceptance. I’m looking for self-acceptance.

I’m looking for truth, even if it’s only my own.

I’m looking for beauty, even if I have to shovel through a mountain of shit to get to it.

I’m looking to dance with words, because that’s the best thing ever.

The world is a gorgeous, wondrous thing, and people are amazing, no matter what they think.

I’ll believe this until the day I die.