On Writing for Any Audience
Sometimes I would like my blog to be other than what it is. But I understand that would require me to be other than what I am.
I would like to have incisive and perceptive things to say about current events, as a great many blogs do. But that would require me to be able to discern as perceptively which side is in the right and which side is in the wrong. It is not always so clear cut with me.
I would like to be able to post perceptive analyses and explanations of plain Catholicism, like those I read at Disputations. But while I might take exception to some small part of what is said there, I haven't the right kind of mind to generate the wonderful materials I read there.
I would like to produce with consistency the vibrantly spiritual, quintessentially posts of Ms. Karen Marie Knapp, who never fails to stun me.
Each blogger I read consistently has some aspect that I would dearly love to have here. Kathy at Gospel Minefield has a wonderful ability to cut through the fog and obfuscation to get to the heart of the matter. Mr. Seraphin at A Catholic Blog for Lovers always produces beautiful, vibrant and meaningful work.
But I am what I am, and what I am is expressed through what appears here. I do not have a terribly incisive mind (God did not give me bleeding edge technology). What I know was hard-learned, often in the dreadful school of experience, and often very, very slowly. I have no insights that others would profit from or cherish--I can tell you nothing new, or even anything old (and accurate) about the human condition. I cannot plumb the depths of spirituality or soar to the heights of intellect. Let's face it--at times I just feel downright deficient--ineffective, ineffectual, with endless vacillation and a million different caveats all leading nowhere.
But I am what I am, masses of indecision and all. And because of that, this blog is what it is--neither the forerunner of understanding the news, nor the leading voice in understanding the teaching of the Church, nor particularly gifted at spelling out spiritual truths and helping everyone to a deeper understanding of our Lord and God.
What I do hope I am is a person whose love of God occasionally breaks through his love of self. What I hope shines forth for some is my real attraction to the Holy Church and the blessed Magisterium that so helps us all in understanding. You will hear much wrong here--not deliberately, but through ignorance. You do not stand to learn much from me. But I do appreciate your patience and the kindness of your readership as you visit day after day. I am blessed with blogfriends and regulars who visit and sometimes comment, and I am thankful.
I had originally intended to publish something like Erik's Manifesto on Art and Music--but I realize that I have nothing to say that would have nearly the same meaning. Perhaps the only things of worth I can offer is my sincere love of the language, which, due to the haste with which these entries are composed might be belied by what you see here. But trust me, I do cherish the language, its magnificence, its simplicity, and its beauty and I have no patience for those who abuse it, misuse it, or warp it. Perhaps someday I'll produce a manifesto on good and decent writing that will stab straight at the heart of the postmodern world of criticism.
Enough maundering for now--presently I'm off to try to write an explanation of why the Bernouilli Principle IS NOT the right explanation for the marvels of aeronautics. It will be particularly difficult because common knowledge holds the Bernoilli Principle explanation for induced lift. It's always hard to go against common knowledge--most particularly people seem to cling to it ardently when it is at its most incorrect.
