Last week I wrote that this year, 2020, is not going to be like most other years. There are new things sitting on the horizon. If you squint just a little and tilt your head to the left a tad, you should be able to see them.
In just under three months I am going to enter the ranks of “Those Who You Used to Work.” Aka: Retired.
I began working in the printing industry 49 years ago. For those keeping score, that’s a loonngg time ago. Little did I know then, as I cleaned spray powder off the ceiling and pipes, that I would spend my entire adult life helping to push paper through machines. But, I have come from those first days of cleaning the overhead to sweeping floors and working in the warehouse, through helping on presses and nearly 45 years in prepress, to here today getting ready to say goodbye.
I have a lot of different feelings right now. So much has happened during the last nearly half century. Most of it good. Some time spent in the valley. But, that’s the way life is, right?
There is so much that I would like to write about. But, I am still processing some of this. Yeah, I’ve been planning for this for quite a while. That doesn’t change the feelings of anxiety and fear that lurk around the periphery of my heart and mind. It’s not until you etch the decision in stone that the reality of change begins to truly come into focus. As long as you’re talking about what’s coming it still has a fairy tale feel. But, when you actually bite into the apple and feel the truth coursing through your veins, well, let’s just say that it’s different. It’s real. This is actually happening.
First, I wish that you all will have a happy and prosperous New Year in 2020. The ball dropped. The old is past. Hope looks ahead.
Many of us look to this date as a resetting of the clock. We are full of optimism and hope for fresh changes in the twelve months that lie ahead. Resolutions for personal improvement and growth are made once the effects of last night wear off. (Hint: Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!) Then, by February the resolutions are largely forgotten and we get on with life as usual. In my entire life I only made one resolution that I successfully implemented. That was to never make a New Year’s resolution. I have kept that one.
I am not going to have the luxury of allowing life to simply carry on as usual this year. There are changes coming that will upend the routines that I’ve spent nearly 50 years building and reinforcing. They say that time waits for no one. This year is proof of that.
And, I have to admit to no small amount of fear and uncertainty. Any changes that come our way cause anxiety. Major life events, no matter how well prepared for, bring that anxiety on steroids. I remember how my wife and I walked into marriage 43 years ago. Yeah, there was great joy and celebration. But, our lives were changed that day. We looked forward to our life together with optimism and fear. A strange emotional cocktail. We drank it, however, and for better or worse we have muddled our way through.
We looked forward with happy expectation as our children entered the world and joined us on this journey. Again, though, worries and anxiety came to the party. How would we be as parents? Concerns about finances, health, housing, education, etc., etc., etc. clouded our minds every day. Life as we knew it had changed forever.
We watched as our own parents aged and walked on from this life. Our friends and siblings grew up and apart over the years. People change. That’s part of the journey, isn’t it?
And, still we trek on. Putting one foot in front of the other. In the midst of, or perhaps, in spite of the anxiety.
The alternative is to stop walking. The result of that is to wake up on the wrong side of the grass.
All of that to say, 2020 will be a year of profound change for us. And, yes, I am afraid of what lies ahead. It is an unknown. If thar be beasties out there, then we’ll meet them together.
Perhaps, though, there is a new world awaiting us with new joys and gifts and promises.
There are some changes coming to this site in the near future.
I hope to continue with topics that we’ve all grown to know and love. However, I’m planning to focus more of my time and energy writing and publishing in 2019. Eventually, I plan to use this site to share and promote my prose and poetry.
To you who have been faithfully following my ramblings, THANK YOU!!!! I really appreciate you more than you can know. I hope that you’ll stick around through the coming changes.
Well, folks, I pulled the trigger. I have deleted my Facebook, Twitter, and tumbler accounts. I do need to tell you that it wasn’t easy. Even as I sat with my finger hovering over the‘Enter’ key, I was considering ways that I would be able to maintain some presence. Facebook offers partial canceling. I thought, that might work ok. I can use that. Then, when I find myself in the throes of Social Media Withdrawal I can simply log in and say, “JK!”
Both Facebook and Twitter have a 30 day wait period before they actually begin to delete stuff. So, I do have that time to reconsider. And, like I wrote in my last post, I don’t have any idea if or when I’ll be back traversing the InterWebs. However, having escaped it, I’m afraid that venturing back along the strands of the web may put me in peril like Ynyr in the 80s fantasy movie, “Krull.” I don’t think that I would be able to escape unscathed. Even if I could get my hands on some of the sand from the enchanted hourglass.
Anyway, it’s done.
Now what?
I plan to spend more time here. I hope to continue posting material that you all have found so riveting. All, what, 5 of you?
I’m going to try to use this platform for sharing, also. So, I may create more posts that are shorter. But, they will have links to other sources that I may comment on.
Like this:
Yesterday I read a blog post written by Carl McColman. In it he shared a common problem associated with social media.It does not lend itself to well-developed discussion. Like any remote communications, e-mail, social media, even writing letters, we aren’t able to communicate our true thoughts and feelings. There is lacking the physical presence and ‘body language’ that helps others to really “get” what we try to say. That problem seems to be more pronounced, however, when we simply react to something that someone writes or shares. There have been many times when I’ve had to come back and explain something that I shared that someone else misinterpreted. Those are awkward and can be damaging to relationships.
Relationships? Can people even have and develop those through social media? I don’t think so. It’s too easy to fall into the sin of “assumed familiarity.” We connect with someone online. We read what they share. And, we begin to think that we actually know that person. However, our understanding is far from the reality of things. I recently experienced this. I ‘assumed’ that I was a friend with someone. In fact, we even know each other away from the internet. But, I apparently misunderstood the depth of that relationship and feelings were hurt all around.
See? Short and sweet with a link to boot! We’ll see how this type of posting goes. I can always tweek it depending on how it is received.
I also hope to use this platform to share things that I write. I may share some poetry or excerpts from some other piece that I work on. Perhaps, eventually, I may be able to offer completed works to followers who are interested.
I don’t know where this will ultimately go. Since I began it several years ago I have experimented with different things. I would expect that changes will continue to be made. Nothing is etched in stone. This is, after all, only a bunch of 1s and 0s gathered together in a specific order.
So, I hope to see you here. Bring friends! We’ll have a party! (You will have to supply your own libation of choice.)
Be sure to ‘Follow’ the blog if you want to receive updates. Also, leave a comment!
It’s been a little while since I last visited here. There has been a lot happening. So, I want to take a minute to share a bit of it with you.
November was National Novel Writing Month. I decided that it was past time for me to write something. My dear old, gray haired Daddy used to say to me, “Son, you need to shit or get off the pot.” So, I shit. Or, rather, I took the opportunity to focus my energy on writing a novel. The goal of NaNoWriMo was to write 50,000 words over the course of one month. And, I’m happy to say that I DID IT!!!! Yay!!! While I met the goal of the challenge, it wasn’t until today that I actually finished the story. And, truth be told, it’s not great. In fact, it’s pretty bad. But, that’s not the point. The point is that I DID IT!!!! Yay!!! I created a lump of word clay that, hopefully, I’ll be able to mold and fashion into something worthwhile. That’s the aim of a first draft. Get words out there where they can be worked with. Now that I’ve done that, I’m going to put the story away to ferment for a couple weeks. I hope to start the editing process after the holidays.
Ah, yes…the Holidays. All I can say about that is Bah! Humbug! This is not the most wonderful time of the year for me. And, I know it’s not for a lot of other people as well. There are lots of reasons why people who grew up immersed in our Western winter holidays feel as I do. But, I’m not going to write a list. You know who you are and why you feel like you do. Hopefully, we’ll all get to January ready to pick up our lives in the New Year.
In recent months I’ve taken some time to re-evaluate some things. I was kind of forced into this by recent political events. I first noticed my anxiety and stress levels climbing during the Brett Kavanaugh debacle. I’m pretty sure that a more unqualified jurist could not be found. It was also clear that the will of the majority of citizens was that the Senate should have stopped the confirmation process and sent the nomination back to the White House for a new choice. Now, I know that some reading this may disagree with me. They may think that a majority of citizens did not feel this way. That’s ok. I really can’t concern myself with that. But, I will point to the recent mid-term elections as evidence for my case.
That brings me to another event that has been chasing peace away…the mid-terms. The divide in this nation, and I might add, around the world, is real, people. It seems that it’s far more important to win than to be right. Lies trump the truth. (See what I did there?) Partisanship takes precedent over the common good or the will of the people. I mean, look at what the GOP in Wisconsin just did to the incoming Dem. Governor and Attorney General. Don’t’know? Google it.
It seems that everywhere I turn I am faced with divisiveness and hatred. Xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia…it’s all fear, folks. Fear triggers the fight or flight reaction that has allowed us as a species to grow and thrive through a million years of evolution. But, if it is sustained, it causes real damage to one’s mind and body. Our Western culture, particularly in the U.S., has been running on high adrenaline for way too long.
It’s come to the point that I need to step back from things for my own health. I think ,also, in order to fulfill my own calling.
I have spent a lot of time reading,studying, and following news and events online and on television. Now, these things are not inherently bad. In fact, they are all beneficial in their own ways. And, I hope to continue them. However, there is a text recorded by one of the writers of the Gospels referring to folks who gave a tithe to the Jerusalem temple without fail. Yet, they neglected to do the good and right things when it came to justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus told them that they should have not just focused on their giving. But, they should have done the one without neglecting the other. Well, in a way, I have done just that. I have been so focused on studying and sharing my thoughts and opinions that I have neglected the interior work that must be done by any person who would call him or herself a follower of Jesus. That interior work involves contemplation,meditation, and prayer. These practices helped to open my eyes many years ago to how wrong it is for people to get caught up in following a set of rules and calling that ‘christianity.’ It was in the quietness of ‘waiting on the Lord’ that God’s grace became my reality. So, I have begun to take the time I would have given to study in order to offer it to God in stillness. I trust that God will not reject that.
And, finally, I am going to make some changes regarding my online presence. This Sunday I intend to walk away from social media for a while. How long? I have no idea. Until God presses me to go back, I guess. What this will mean is that I will delete and deactivate every social media account I now have. Facebook, twitter, tumblr, Instagram…all of them.
“But,wait! How will we communicate with you? How will you share all of those priceless nuggets of wisdom that we’ve grown to know and love?”
Yeah, I hear ya. But, not to worry. I will continue to write and share here. My WordPress blog will be my primary avenue for online communication. You can follow it by selecting below. That way, you’ll get a notification whenever something new is posted. You can also use the comments to share your own thoughts and feelings with me. Note, I said ‘with me.’ That doesn’t mean that what you share will automatically be broadcast to anyone else. We can share it publicly if we want. Or, it can remain just between us.
You can share your e-mail address and we can communicate electronically. That way we can continue to stay in touch.
A better way, I think, would be to share postal addresses. Yes, I mean snail mail. Why? Well, it’s a far more personal and thoughtful way to communicate. It’s way too easy to give into the tyranny of the expedient with sound bytes and emojis doing our talking for us. Taking time to think about words and how they may impact another person is too important. Yet, daily we toss our responsibility away with our shallow interactions. As important as the electronic communities are for many, it’s important to remember that They Are Not Real! They exist in the ether of the World Wide Web. And, while that location is not a real place, it is a web. It can be as sticky as any spider’s. And, just as deadly.
So, what do you think? Have I lost it? Am I succumbing to that malady called ‘old age’? No, I don’t think so. But, somethings are becoming more important to me. Recently, I found a cache of old letters that one of my great-aunts had sent to my parents. As I read through these notes I was struck by how these words had transcended the years. I held, in my hands, thoughts that had been created in the mind of another human. She had taken the time to formulate specific ideas and articulate them on paper for one specific purpose. That purpose was not to gain followers or so that her brilliance could ‘go viral.’ No, she simply desired to touch another person’s heart with hers.
We have gained a hell of a lot with the technological advances that have been made. This is both good and wonderful.
But, perhaps we should not neglect the one at the expense of the other.
