Resolutions

Sorry for the unannounced hiatus.  I have been dong a little hibernating and trying to do my best to not become a recluse.  It is far too easy to do just that as the winter months stretch before me, but I have not succumbed to my natural inclinations.

I have been both social and writing, just not writing for public consumption.  And this gets me to resolutions.

The beginning of a new year is traditionally a time when people resolve to make changes for the better in their lives.  I am not really keen on the point of the arbitrary start date of January 1, because if I think I ought to make a change in my life, why wait until the calendar tells me I should begin?

Yet, I do make New Year’s resolutions as well and, frankly, like the rest of people, fail at most of them as soon as the middle of the month.  Some superficial resolutions I made this year were: eat more meals in the dining room (not one dinner yet, though every breakfast), watch less TV (where do you think I eat my dinners?), read and write more (several books already read, some progress writing).  But I also resolved to get back to posting—so here it is.

The recent events at the offices of Charlie Hebdo have been on my mind.  Growing up, my mother was a journalist and my father had a couple of forays into politics.  Conversations in my home were frequently passionate, animated, and focused on current events.  Guests remarked on this on several occasions, asking if it was “always like that?”  Yes, it was.

Few topics were too controversial.  I think perhaps the greatest lesson I got from those discussions was this: speak out, speak up, speak truth.

This is why I am so troubled by the Charlie Hebdo attack.  I think of the strong literary tradition of satire and the brave writers who tackled the most controversial of subjects.  Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift rank among the finest writers and satirists in the English language.  They held a mirror up to society and asked the pressing questions of their day.  Imagine if they had had to face violence and death, just because they made people feel uncomfortable—which they did.

The contemporary equivalents of these great satirists must not be silenced because one person or a fringe group of people are unhappy when they peer into society’s mirror.  The outcries against these terrorists and the upsurge in Charlie Hebdo’s sales heartens me.  My continued hope is that more voices rise from the ashes of this horror.

Perhaps it is time to raise the difficult issues—how do your resolutions include using your voice to speak out, speak up and speak truth?