YEARS AGO a highly regarded writer asked how I approached columns. Upon hearing that I thought of them as a sort of “conversational communication” with readers, he declared: “Oh, I never think about the reader!”
If you are not writing for readers, then for whom? Is it just mental masturbation for your own satisfaction? If so, why publish it?Resistance to efforts to manipulate you into being a ghostwriter, by those who think they can pull your strings to fulfil their agenda, is essential to keep your integrity. But accepting ideas, suggestions, listening to or reading feedback, or discussing issues are welcome. Even getting corrected (rightly or wrongly) and put in your place.So from time to time I share input from readers, including other columnists and people who ask about my mother.She celebrated her 82nd birthday on June 30, still in an intensive geriatric-care institution. I was able to speak to her for a couple of minutes. She sounded quite cheerful. I told her everyone whmo she knows here sends greetings and prayers for her. But her memory is so bad, she thought she was 93!One columnist B.C. Pires suggested I “draw some Danish cartoons or write about how badthe economy is”.Sorry B.C., but C.D. still draws as well as she did in kindergarten. If I was to start drawing cartoons, artists would hold street demonstrations to get me to quit, even if the subject matter was not of a religious figure, with the potential to offend fanatics.I do write sometimes how people can better manage their own money or cut back when laid off or unemployed. I also wrote about the Emperor’s new money in the great credit/mortgage done with mirrors USA flash flood of cash, which turned out to be Fool’s Gold with recessionary whiplash.But I try to avoid depression. Crying over spilt money is sure to unleash a flood of tears.Which brings to mind my prediction that high winds during the storm season would push toxicGulf oil water further into the marshlands. It has indeed happened.Does anyone wonder of the potential for eco-disaster around Barbados when we have companies drilling in our waters? Have environmentalists raised concerns?I also threw out a line to those who are End of Days watchers about the on-going death of sea creatures and the reddish-brown water in the Gulf oil spill being somewhat of a Revelation . . . and the in-our-face connection seems to be dead in the water.But I was brought into biblical discussions with a couple of readers who responded to the last column on people who owed relatives, friends, acquaintances, orlandlords/ladies money and would not repay. They said one of the most amazingly hurtful aspects of being “taken” by the “hobby class” was when the persons involved often spoke of being devout Christians.The $64m question: “Don’t they realise owing and not paying is stealing?”I pondered. “Well, you see they read the Commandment ‘thou shalt not steal’. Not thou shalt not rip off, trick, manipulate, con or tief from people who trust you.”
Dawn Morgan is a Senior Reporter (Advertising) who thinks there are unwritten modern commandments. Phone 430-5495 dawnmorgan@nationnews.com
