It’s 9 days into the new year and I haven’t posted anything intriguing yet. Oh, come on, you all are used to waiting and waiting and waiting for my next ever-inspired and inspiring post. Don’t lie. You say you’d like me to post more but the excitement wanes when there is a post every day or two. This way I’ve got you wanting more. You need it. You hunger for it.
And, the wait is over. Here it is.
Shall I make you promises, dear reader? Shall I tell you I will post several times a week or that I will regale you with stories of trials and tribulations that take place in my little solo world? I cannot do that for certainly I shall fail. I promised last year – three posts a week – and we can see from the numbers that I did a terrible job. I was lucky if there were three posts a month. And, most of the time when I did write it was about how I couldn’t write. Tres boring and lame, my loves. Who needs that? I know you certainly do not. And it’s not too much fun for me to write, either.
The other day I talked to a colleague who wants to start blogging this year about sixth amendment issues. I asked him ‘who is your audience’ because at this point we know who mine is. Yes, over there. I’m looking at you. He said he wanted people to know about things like NDAA – take something that is fairly complex and make it understandable. Excellent idea, said I. But will you just continue to preach to the choir? I will read about indefinite detention for U.S. citizens on U.S. soil and shake my head and say ‘boo’ ‘hiss’ but will my neighbor? And, what are you trying to do by repeating what’s already been said by so many talking heads? What do we gain by continuously telling others who know our truths what the truth is? So, here is a promise that I will keep. I will not bore you by endless repetition of why I cannot write. I will do what I promised last year and that is to keep repeating the mantra that there are very bad things happening in the world and we need to stop them. We must be change agents. Yeah, that’s what I said. CHANGE. AGENTS. And, I’ve written post after post on how to do this. We talk to our neighbors and to our families and our friends and to those who worship with us and those we see at New Year’s Eve parties.
And we talk and talk and talk and we find ways to endear ourselves to those in positions to make these changes a reality. Or, if we can’t do that, we become exceptionally annoying and people stop letting us out in public.
Example. I went to a New Year’s Eve party in New Jersey with some very dear friends of mine. The room was filled with writers and people who seemed intellectual from what I could tell. They would have been intimidating to me if I wasn’t so used to being the new kid on the block and you know, wasn’t just so freaking charming. Anyway, towards the end of the evening one gentleman saw fit to say, for some reason, that marriage was only between a man and a woman. Uh oh. Now, it was 2 a.m. and everyone had been having a good time. There were just 6 of us left sitting around talking and well, he’s a friend of a friend so I should have just let it pass, right? But, it was the New Year and I just couldn’t do it so I told him I disagreed. I asked him to back up what he had to say. I told him I would love to discuss it further with him. Suffice it to say he changed the subject quickly. Do I think he changed his mind? Probably not. But at least next time he wants to say dumb things he might think about it first.
So this is the year I don’t shut up. I hope to not shut up here, but it might not be just here. Tonight I go to planning meeting of the Northern Virginia Chapter of Virginians Against the Death Penalty and I take up the challenge to discuss the death penalty with anyone who wants to have a go.
This is the year I give more than I’ve gotten. Not to say my do-goodism doesn’t have root in some selfishness (who doesn’t love the endorphin rush of a good deed done?) but I’m tired of sitting on my ass and pressing the keys on a computer and talking to folks who agree with me – well, I do like that but you know what I mean, right?
So here’s to ringing out the old and ringing in the new or whatever it is they say. 2012, I’m here to get you.
