Numerous studies and personal experience tell us that writing in any form, though at times difficult, is an excellent outlet for us to relieve stress. Writing is also effective when it comes to just venting our thoughts and emotions without pestering someone else, someone who may appear to be listening, but is in fact thinking, “How in the world can I get away from this person?”
There are days where the last thing I want to do is sit down at the computer and attempt to put together a few hopefully coherent thoughts on the screen, and wonder if anyone out there reads them, or even cares. Then I tell myself that it’s a complete waste of time to worry about it. I try to merely forge ahead and whether or
not anyone gives a hoot what I ramble about is irrelevant.
I am fully aware that these columns are placed on the sports page, and my assignment is to discuss various happenings in the world of sports. I suppose that simply isn’t quite enough for me; I have to use this forum to talk about things unrelated to sports. I refrain from expressing my opinions on controversial topics for the most part; I seriously doubt that y’all want to hear my political beliefs in these missives.
I am grateful to have this platform and as I have mentioned before, special thanks go out to then-publisher Rod Baker, and longtime news editor Mary Ann Kearns, who called me out of the blue in January 2023, and asked if I would be interested in returning to the paper – something I never
would’ve dreamed would occur after leaving in 2014 – and write a column. Since I have officially been “retired” since 2016, my immediate thought was, of course, I’d be more than happy to.
It took this old guy a long time to figure out what he wanted to do when he grew up, and I didn’t begin my newspaper career until I was 49 years old. I cannot go back and change it now, but I regret not doing it long before then. As for “growing up” it remains debatable whether or not that has yet come to fruition.
One thing I have discovered about writing is that once it gets into your blood, it morphs into something that becomes necessary to maintain some sort of sanity in an insane world. Writing has helped me immensely as a form of self-therapy over the past 22 years, and it is something I intend to keep
doing until I am unable. That isn’t meant to be a threat, but rather, a promise, and I also vow to get back to discussing a few sports items in the Wednesday column.
I realize I am no Mark Twain or Stephen King or Paul Daugherty by any stretch of anyone’s most vivid imagination.
On the other hand, writing these columns keeps the old brain somewhat active, and on those rare occasions when I feel like I’ve written a decent one, I feel some contentment and a sense of accomplishment.
Writing will always be a process, and there are days when the words simply don’t flow. That won’t stop me from trying however.
So, folks, you have been warned.
***** “Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write,
compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.” – Graham Greene, esteemed 20th century novelist
*****
“To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself… Anybody can have ideas – the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.” – Mark Twain
