I have written almost a
quarter million words in my journal. Describing my life, reflecting on
experiences in prose and poem. While no one should care about my life,
with the possible exception of my children, I write because I must.
Although I write to the wind, it gives me a chance to reflect on things.
We are fortunate if even two generations of our progeny care about us.
After that, we are just names and dates.
However, too much time on introspection: can be
a problem. Did Emily Dickinson live life robustly or did she just
document a provincial dwelling robustly? Sometimes we need to reflect,
sometimes we need to act. While General Ian Hamilton’s troops were being
slaughtered at Gallipoli during World War I, he thought broadly and deeply
about life. He shared these thoughts in
long diary entries.
“Each evening their commander in chief before
retiring in his bunk on the battleship, wrote five thousand word entries in his
diary, reflecting upon the mysteries and ironies of life.” (The Last Lion, William Manchester, Little Brown
and Co., 1983, p 551.)I would probably do the same thing. Maybe people of action don’t leave a long paper or video trail but they live life robustly.
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