(from 11/12/17)
At the moment, I’m sitting here at the breakfast bar of my apartment, in front of my iPad. The Patriots are playing the Broncos on Sunday Night Football, on mute, and Starman is playing in the background. But that’s not the point. I’m sitting here right now to write a blog. I never intended to write a blog, I just intended to write. You see, I’ve been giving a lot of thought about what I want to do with my life. It’s an important question, but it’s one a strikingly high number of people are unable to answer- which is kind of crazy when you think about it. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure that I have a firm grasp on that answer myself. I know that I don’t want to settle for an ordinary existence. I don’t want to reach the end of my life and know that the most I accomplished was surviving long enough to die an old man. I want to have an impact – on the whole would be great, but maybe that’s a little overly-ambitious. I’ll settle for just impacting the people around me, or maybe even total strangers whom I’ll never meet. Beggars can’t be choosers, after all… As I spent more time on my search for meaning, an idea started to form, just barely a spark: I want to create, to make something new, something that is the unique product of me & the 30 years I’ve been on this planet.
So then the question became, what do I want to create? Or, more accurately, what can I create? What am I good at? Well, I’m good at thinking. I love to think deeply about all kinds of things, big and small, near and far. David Bowie once said, “I live ninety percent of my life in my head.” I totally get that, and if you’re anything like me, we’d probably have some pretty interesting conversations. Another thing I’m good at is articulating those thoughts. And there it was – writing – it seemed like an obvious answer. Which is great, because I enjoy writing. So what, then, to write? Novels, maybe. Using words to create people and worlds is certainly intriguing. I’ve had a slowly forming concept for an epic science fiction story, the kind I would love to read and wish someone had written already, in my head for a few years now. Or, since I would like nothing more than to use whatever it is that I create to make the world a better place, maybe I can find a way for my writing to do that. Sort of like Locke & Demosthenes in Ender’s Game (more like Locke, but without the sociopathic hidden intent… I promise). And surely there are plenty of other possibilities I haven’t considered yet. But as with all things, the only way to become a better writer is to begin writing. So here I sit, writing without a clear aim, hoping only to find meaning in this thing we call life. And what is a collection one person’s contemplative musings if not a blog?
…
I realize the collection of words I’m putting down here today don’t serve much of a purpose to anyone reading them. In fact, I’m not sure if anyone will ever read them at all – I have no immediate plans to find a host and set up an actual domain. I expect that over time, a clearer purpose will emerge, and once I’ve found a more precise reason for all this, maybe I’ll take those steps. But until then, I’m doing this purely for the sake of taking the first step of a journey that I hope will end up being more than ordinary.
BCH
The Next Renaissance 