11.28.08
Why?
…and why not why?
Do not journalists feed on this exact word? Oh, journalism! Would it have been better working for the media and granted the beauty of language to be trampled on by daily demands and the mass-manufacturing of commercial clichés? The words people want to read and crumple afterwards, or better yet, wrap tuyo with? Or even remove doggie poop with. Why not the truth that speaks inside – the truth that I myself would have the honor of crumpling afterwards, or better still, wipe glass windows with! Or should I have chosen that path over what seems like a heap of aborted pasts, premature presents, overdue futures, thoughts turned triteness, exhausted music, withered flowers, not even poems but mere fragments of a life, verses without forms, rules without rules, without rhymes, you, you, you, you, girlish prose, espresso analogies, ad nauseum?
Yes, I should have been heroic and moved others to discover themselves. I should have had a worthier cause other than the attempt to discover myself and allow words to become the sorry outlet of a somewhat multiple-personality malady because I am too shy to converse the way I write. I should have known the perils of syllables, consonants and vowels. I should have known they would defeat me like an overpowering doppelgänger.
I should have known the truths beneath were capable of transforming a life, that they would transform mine. But I found myself, my other self! Sweet defeat! I should have known… and would have embraced this destiny still. I write. Why not?
.
inket said,
November 28, 2008 at 1:44 pm
it’s not a matter of demands and the way they view journalism… it’s all about the choice of language; if this world is dominated with interpretation, let journalism take a different form. yours has the heart, pure enough to impart your inspiration for others. it is no defeat but a sweet victory. you just don’t know how you’ve touched me… and you must continue to write and inspire others.
why not?
Miracle ♪♫ said,
November 28, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Hmmm… I understand your point.
Thank you for that affecting comment right there.
Makes me wanna write some more. Why, yes! ;-)
jonathan hawk said,
November 28, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Once words replaced experience as the prominent way of interpreting the world, words became the jewel and direct experience a mere luxury. That being said, in this fast paced world, journalist must know that most (particularly in the Americas), only read the headlines so they must wonder, why bother with the rich content that they’d use to fully paint a reality. Now words even compete against other mediums of expression and are found in settings that traverse the world in an instant. Reflections of perception (not direct experience) world wide in an instant, imagine that.
I say live it first, then try to reflect it for those who, perhaps cannot live it first.
At least it will be richer in having found roots in direct experience - writing based in rich soil is likely more fertile.
Miracle ♪♫ said,
November 28, 2008 at 6:26 pm
There is truth in that, Jonathan. Thanks much for your perceptive views.
P.S. This afternoon, the little journalism graduate who sees the negativity in Philippine journalism simply got a little bit fed up with a little question.haha… but this post isn’t simply about that, however. There’s an answer to a riddle there… somewhere… ;-)