“The expedient thing and the right thing are seldom the same thing.”
The quote above came from a fortune cookie, but I’ve seen it attributed to Charles Hendrickson Brower elsewhere too. Whatever, the source isn’t as essential as the insight. We often rush through things just to check the box, even as we know that the right things require more from us than to simply crank them out.
This blog has been an odyssey for me. I’m considering its future, as the process of writing it every day obviously requires a level of commitment and thought energy I might apply to something else instead. There’s no doubt that writing, and finding something interesting enough to write about, has greatly improved my life along with the quality and efficiency of my writing. Instead of meandering around some topic, I’ve learned to dive right into it. And isn’t that a skillset that carries to every form of communication? We all ought to get to the point already.
My point here is, writing isn’t some habit like brushing my teeth that just has to be checked off that I may sleep better at night. Writing—great writing anyway—feels right because we know intuitively that it’s touched something essential and vital within us. Who are we to slog along checking boxes? And so I’m unsure whether to simply quietly walk away from the blog to focus on more long-form writing or to double down on making it magical. The question I’m asking myself is, is this the right place for magic?
Of course, I know the answer even as I type the question. We ought to put the very best of ourselves into every endeavor, for everything we create touches someone. Don’t we owe it to the reader to offer something worthy of their time? Don’t we owe it to ourselves to put our very best into everything that we know deep down matters a great deal to us? Writing is building a bridge between our previous self and whomever that future person will become. Similarly, the writer is building a bridge to a reader he may never see, who may not even exist for generations after the writer’s last day. Seen in that context, perhaps tearing down the bridge right in the middle isn’t for the best. Perhaps the answer is to build a bridge that endures.
