week. In learning more about him, the one thing that I
admired was his attitude about writing. He called himself
a writer who read his own work. He also believed that
the point of a writer is to say things as they are.
I remember has a child being told that the best way to
write was to do it like one speaks. It sounds quite
simple, really, and yet many seem to have difficulty
putting their words down "on paper." (Even knowing
this I sometimes have this problem, myself).
I have found that writing as one speaks can certainly vary.
I know some who are to the point verbally, and write in
the same, exacting, brief, and to the point way. I once
had one of those people tell me that I write too much.
While I reecognize that some people have neither the time
nor the interest to read something of length these days,
it has not inhibited my writing style. To write any
other way would be to be someone other than myself. I
suppose that might mean that my audience might not be as
large, but I am OK with that. I approach my calls in
very much the same way I write: I am not for everyone.
But for those who have an appreciation for me and my way
of doing things, we're gonna have a great time together.
It is becoming clearer and clearer to me every day that
the world is limited by the limits try to place on it
by our labels and expectations. There often times that
someone who has an open mind will find something he
didn't expect when talking to me...something those who
try to box and label me will miss.
There is no pleasing everyone. It is just not possible.
There are no ready-made, universal answers. Even if we
feel pressed to believe so. I think the more we think
that "others" have "the" answers, the more we will find
ourselves lacking in some way. I really don't think
anyone has "the" answers, but rather are (1) either good
at faking it, or (2) have found something that works
for them - at least for the time being.
Andy, and others, have said there are no unique ideas
in the world, and yet we often will jump on the bandwagon
that screams "new." We will turn to the person who seems
to know what we need - at least that is what they will
tell us, and we might allow ourselves to believe in our
most anxious and desperate moments.
We (as a whole, and in general, even though I don't
generally support generalizations) seem to be very
uncomfortable with the things we don't know, straining
to fit those things into what is already known, often
unwittingly, perhaps, limiting our options.
Who knows what is possible, unless we are willing to
remain in the discomfort and stop judging those things
and those people who refuse to be defined by the
current conventions? Who knows what is lost when we
try to force ourselves to see things in the only way
we know how?
Sometimes it may be good for someone like Andy to come
along and state the obvious, and to break the hold of
the hypnosis that we have been under. It may be good
for someone to take the mould and break or bend it in
the process of allowing rediscovery. It may be good
to see someone expressing themselves when so often we
are witness to those who would feel forced to silence
themselves for one reason, or another.
There is much to be said for our individual expression
and to the degree that we allow ourselves that we will
find that the world in which we live will be affected
in one way or another. It is one thing for another
to try to silence us, it is a different one all together
for us to choose to silence ourselves.
Here's to what Andy represented and what he stood for,
and for his approach to the conversation of life.
As always, have a good one :)
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