Saturday Evening Post

red wine glassFor the first time since M3 was born, I have no energy for a post. If you would like to hear the tale, please, grab a cuppa and snuggle in. The temperature will be dropping soon, so do pick up a blanket.

Struck

I am sickened. Oh, aye, I am on the mend physically. What is sick is my heart. At the hands of those I love, those I respect, those about whom I care, those I do not know, those who will never be known.

I reach this place often. Its primary symptom is a wordlessness which is characterized only physically. Inside my head the words are formed. Despite limitations, they are all capable of reaching my hands and becoming a form others can read, celebrate, share, debate, disregard, dismiss or ignore. The disconnection is merely one of self-preservation.

Writers

As a writer, holding the words inside can often lead to volatile outcomes. Left alone, they can swirl and coalesce into gut- or heart-wrenching prose and poetry. Sometimes, they fade out against the emotions they are meant to evoke. Once purged, the writer is left more balanced, but the reader is atilt, unsure what the meagre letter formations were meant to convey although certain they have not escaped unchanged.

Many writers make hay on those trapped words by capping them until their energy explodes into a rant. They fume with bluster, vitriol or merely well-timed acerbity. The burst of written flame catches fire to the consciousness of the reader who fans the flame into a raging, consuming fire which spreads.

dimeThese writers rarely are noble. They do not serve their words for the better good. Instead, they serve them merely in an attempt to garner attention. Most often the attention they seek is coin of the realm. They are occasionally aligned with the words on a theoretical level, but most often they serve an agenda tainted with avarice.

In their attempt to garner attention, it is unlikely they bother with the audience’s ability to understand the words. Nay, they prefer to intentionally use words knowing their audience will be so moved with emotion as to overlook what is going on behind the curtain. The reader should mistake the avarice of money, fame, social recognition, social change, notoriety and a coveted place in history for a genuine respect for the subject at hand and the reader’s intelligence.

You, dear reader, should overlook the fact the writer has something to gain by your pandering their words. In many cases, this kind of writer has already gotten a benefit in exchange for the words. Sometimes, readers are unaware. Most often they know and are willing to overlook the fact may have tempered the words by fueling the flame with an unwanted source.

Still other writers take advantage. These opportunists are often not looking for a bank draft for their efforts. Many believe they are convicted to write such things. Be it divine calling, righteous indignation, social character or moral turpitude, it is as individual as any other opinion.

Readers of these writers are often of like mind and gladly carry the message to audiences otherwise unwilling or disinterested to hear such words of their own accord. What the writer may or may not intentionally recognize is the spread of the personal agenda is no different than any other form of propaganda which capitalizes on an emotional event, real or imagined.

Symbiosis

ReadingWithout both the reader and the writer, writing fails to exist. Without the ability to strike emotion or action in others through words, writers would cease to exist. Without the ability to read and be affected by the words, the reader would cease to exist. While some of the most voracious readers are writers and vice versa, most often, the two are in a symbiotic state which exists only in a balance which cannot be measured by an outside scale.

Readers seek out the writings of those who cater to not only their more cerebral pursuits, but also their baser instincts. Literature is densely populated with looks into the morally acceptable and the morally repugnant with equity. Over time, the two categories are commingled. Contemporaneously, the two are commingled. In truth, without one, the other ceases to exist.

Comedy and tragedy are a comparative case. While each can stand alone, neither’s greatness is appreciated without the other to stand in stark comparison.

Responsibility

In any symbiotic relationship, both partners carry a responsibility to uphold the relationship on equitable terms. The writer must not exploit the emotions and fallibilities of the reader. Likewise, the reader must be aware of the writer’s motives. Neither is exempt from the reaction to the words.

Words should incite readers to look within themselves by presenting a well-reasoned case and offering the chance for the reader to apply the logic to the world in which both operate. Even when the well-reasoned case is fraught with the writer’s emotional bareness, the shock and provocativeness of such nudity cannot be the only factor on which a reader may be given the choice. Truly, it is merely a choice of My way or the highway.

Most writers are artists. The nudes they paint with words are not intentionally pornography. Readers are mostly seeking enjoyment. They do not expect the words to carry them to a place of future regret. The pursuit of either vocation without the responsibility to apply one’s own principles, logic and emotion in equal measure is tantamount to ceding one’s ability to decide for oneself what is real, what is true, what is right and what is sustainable.

Words may be free to say and write, but each one costs. The writer may have bled it onto the page. The reader may bleed to death reading it. Use caution.

Words are weapons which can protect or destroy. How you use them truly is important.

Quietly,

Red's signature

 

Have you ever read or heard something which moved you to do something you regret? Have you ever written or said words which hurt someone? Do you know how to be a responsible reader or writer?

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© Red Dwyer 2012
Writing Hand © Liz Campbell used with permission
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49 Comments

  1. Brilliant! I don’t even want to add words, because your words are so (beyond) adequate. So I’m coming over to say, “I love you.”

    ps … We will meet after the first of the year to begin … many fun activities with family now.
    Lisa Neumann recently posted..When I love youMy Profile

    Reply
    • Fabulous! I am sure I shall see you before then, but have a wonderful holiday, Lisa. I love you, too. xxx

      Reply
  2. Maybe you’ve noticed or maybe you haven’t, but I’ve really stopped writing in a public/blog forum since the horrific tragedy, but it actually started before then. I’m a new (June) blogger, encouraged by my DIL, and I started writing to write, trying to find my “voice”, then I started writing to play along, then I started writing to get likes or follows, and somewhere in all that, I lost focus. I even teetered on the edge of revealing personal, hurtful, embarrassing things to one-up the “competition”. This isn’t me. This isn’t who I am. Yes, I want a literary agent. Yes, I want a book deal, etc. etc. But not at the cost of my ethics or my loved ones. I need to figure these things out and get my little tugboat back on course. I hear ya.
    enchantedseashells recently posted..No wordsMy Profile

    Reply
    • There are a few places where I am willing to play along when they fall in line with the writing I am doing in the first place. I gave up writing for “likes and follows” a very long time ago, as the subjects I choose are those of growth and awareness, neither of which many like or follow. I am glad you have not fallen off the one-up cliff. In fact, there will always be someone with more salacious stories and less inhibition. It is far better for you to be the best writer you can be rather than attempting to write with someone else’s pen.

      Glad this one spoke to you.

      Reply
      • I have been reading everyone’s comments and of course your replies, which I do rather often when I call into your Space 🙂 Your reader base is quality my great friend.

        I have been thinking of dropping the ‘Likes’ on my Space also, as just the idea of someone calling by to read my work is enough for me, I guess it is like a lot of networks these days where everyone seems to thrive on how many ‘Likes’ they have accumulated but then anyone can click the ‘Like’ and not even bother reading the work offered, and so who needs it? 🙁

        As for writing something that offends another, I guess it depends on what they have offered on my Space, or to someone that is vulnerable who doesn’t know how to respond. Some comments are added on Spaces to directly offend and if I see that happen then of course I tend to retaliate even if that person does not know me. Yes I give them a taste of their own medicine 🙂

        Actually sometimes I have been shot down by the blogger of that Space for doing this but at least I try to help wherever I feel it is needed and as for the flamer, I couldn’t give a jot what they think 🙂 lol

        Have a fun evening Red 🙂 😉

        Andro xxx

        Reply
        • I wish I had a dollar for everyone I offended 😉 You are more than welcome to flame ppl around here…if you can get to them before I do. I never was a fan of the like button. I hope you are having a grand day and staying warm. 😉

          Reply
  3. This gives me so very much to think about, consider, and evaluate.
    C. Brown recently posted..Don’t Fear Mental IllnessMy Profile

    Reply
  4. I cannot imagine anyone here who is irresponsible or unconscionable…Ugh.

    True, words can be like daggers, sharp and deadly.
    Tess Kann recently posted..(3X) Flash in the Pan – FireMy Profile

    Reply
    • Which kind of has be a bit down, Tess. I needed to write this, yet I was desperately certain I was preaching to the choir. xxx

      Reply
  5. Oh yes, words can hurt, sharp as a knife. This was wonderful and profound and so mirrors the thoughts I’ve been having, My hubs, who is my compass, asks why my writing has changed, and I told him he didn’t know this world and I needed this voice, and I have to do this and do that to stay current and fit in, and he told me I was wrong. And he was right. I am not nearly as eloquent as you or evolved in my writing, but I really understand.
    enchantedseashells recently posted..Just a cup of coffee–Part TwoMy Profile

    Reply
    • He is right. When you are true to your inner writer (be that muse, inspiration, catharsis), your voice will shine through without any need to embellish it. When you stop putting on bells and whistles, your audience comes for the meaning you convey. Those are your true readers.

      Thank you. With a few million words under my belt, and as many books as I have written besides, my voice was easy to find. I write precisely the way I speak. Glad to see you tonight (even if I am commenting late).

      Reply
  6. Words truly do have power, I’ve been moved to act on positive words not negative ones.
    No matter how good our intentions are, I believe it’s not really possible to write something that will be inoffensive to everyone.
    Due to people having differing views, offence will be taken by someone at some point.
    I personally don’t go out of my way to be offensive but I’m also not apologetic for holding certain views and that’s where I can draw a negative response.

    I remember having a heated discussion with a sister-in-law concerning my family matters posts back on one of my earlier Blogs.
    I was accused of being negative and writing negatively due to highlighting a matter which concerned us and herself.
    I tried to explain the difference between writing negatively as opposed to writing honestly about a negative matter but I don’t think she accepted that there was a difference.
    Constant family and friend conflicts caused me to write incognito for a while, which I just couldn’t get to grips with and subsequently caused me to stop writing for a while.

    In fairness, I now consider deeply before I write and if I still offend someone then, I do…can’t win them all. 🙂

    I read both yours & Andro’s comments concerning ‘Likes’.
    It works on FB but in the Blogsphere, thinking about it, I don’t think it’s really necessary.
    I’ll be removing mine after this comment…I’ll receive comments only and will judge whether or not someone likes what I’ve written based on the comments they leave.

    Great tale for someone who doesn’t have any energy for a post.
    Phil recently posted..I ‘Like’ it.My Profile

    Reply
    • When I am disinterested, I tend to write much more than I initially surmise I am able. There is a large difference between writing negatively and merely writing about negative aspects. The topics here are often negative, yet I do everything in my power to treat them in a way my audience does not feel bludgeoned with them. There will always be at least one who misses the subtlety or finesse, regardless of how neatly it is packaged. I am not on a popularity quest, and have found over the years those most offended are those who were in most need of what was posted. Nature of the beast, as it were.

      I love the fact my “Love” button is anonymous. The serial “likers” who like every single post fell away when I removed mine, which I see as fine; They were not reading the posts, but merely liking. I offer many chances for links on M3, so I feel no loss for not having a Gravatar link for someone who made no effort to engage the content.

      Reply
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