Wisdom Cries In The Streets

What to discuss today, hmm? Granted, something new will be up in twelve hours or so. Funny how the day can run away from you sometimes, isn’t it? It’s always good to set time aside, make it a priority. Like me: after this, I’m reworking a bit of scene from my novel – something I was inspired by a few days ago. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up writing for a few good hours – I got time, now.

I realized a bit, earlier today, how much the reader does bring to the interpretation of a text. I mean, you have to react to something – the text is still there, and you and everyone else reading it is reacting to the same text. But wisdom is a tricky thing; it’ll pop up just about anywhere, if you look for it. And it doesn’t always jump in your face, either. I was reading a fellow student’s poetry that she’d written from about 2006 till two days ago. Coming at it – unintentionally, but it happened – with certain things on my mind made me read a lot of them a lot differently than if my mind had been elsewhere. But again, I didn’t necessarily get straight-up answers from what she’d written; but it provoked some thoughts, and as I strung them out and chewed on them a little, answers came. Decisions came. It was weird, and really cool and helpful.

We’re so used to having things handed to us, you know? I need bananas; go buy some bananas. I need help: find a self-help book. I need entertainment: find something on TV or grab a movie. We don’t pause and reflect anymore. That’s why books have to be so sensational anymore; like my Shakespeare professor said, we don’t need our imaginations, and they’ve atrophied. Who needs an imagination when you have Avatar? Or Star Wars? You’ve got to get to the point quick, in books; and as my advisor says, stories have to be so much more poetic because they have to tell a lot in very little time.

But even when they do that, they do nothing if the reader doesn’t actually engage them. If all the reader gets its cool imagery and fancy wording, they may as well read the back of a cereal box. I can pour my heart into my book, but odds might be that only literary critics really understand what’s going on. I hope not; and I won’t sell many if that’s true.

Look for wisdom, it’s out there – and it may be anywhere you want to look, if you really think about it. I’ve had an amazing few days, being more attuned to looking for wisdom. Try it. Maybe find it in a book.

See you tomorrow.