Sunday Scribblings #236: The prompt this week comes from the book, Walking on Alligators by Susan Shaughnessy. In it she quotes Voltaire: “The secret of being tiresome is to tell everything.” In writing and in life, the secret is sometimes in what you leave out. “Start now to separate out what is essential for what you will write today. What you set aside is not lost. It remains, a part of your growing capital of ideas.” – Susan Shaughnessy
Tell us what is essential for you today – but only tell us the essential bits.
Better late than never! I could blather on about my addiction to flavored (sometimes caffeinated) crack water, how I own at least 16 tubes of soft lips spread through out my home/office/bags/purses, how I must sleep with the fan on at night & run with a Garmin on, or how I refused to use anything other than the discontinued Microsoft optical Trackball mouse. But those things really aren’t essential- they are luxuries and peculiarites.
The older I get the more I understand wants vs. needs. I want many things, but actually need very little. The more I realize that I need people and relationships instead of things or objects. Often what is essential in life or for anything can’t be seen or held or touched. It is something organic that is created and nurtured, something that is maintained and valued, something that is fragile and precious. You can always make more money or buy new things, but you can never replace your parents or undo the past.
It’s boggling to my mind that in a society where all the real, true essentials for basic human survival are being met, that we suddenly have developed a need for so many other material items.
When will we consider it essential that all children receive a genuinely high-quality education? When will it be essential that we treat all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, like decent human beings? When will we realize that our country can not survive under the growing burden of debt and it is essential to both cut spending and increase taxes? When will we realize that the essential Jesus was about love- not hate or fear or condemnation?
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: A lazy, lovely week ahead- no tutoring & no extra runs this week since I’m doing 21 on Friday.
[...] on my mind and how I think and feel about various things. Treatment, Clean, Love, Flashback, Essentials, Harvest, Intense, Friction, Bright Idea, Progress (with New Years [...]