WHY I STOPPED WRITING

I write for two reasons, one to attempt to bring a sense of fairness to an issue relying only on facts and sometimes history to prove points and put current dilemmas in perspective. I believed that if you left personal opinion and slant out of the writing it would raise the bar. I often failed to leave my own feelings out and a couple of times even slanted things my way out of anger or frustration but for the most part I believe I’ve upheld my first goal.

My second reason for writing was therapeutic in the sense that I would often rail against a report on TV or complain after reading an op-ed piece and complaining that the writing would often ignore the facts they didn’t like and slant the ones they did. By writing I was able to get things off my chest and hopefully feel like I was making a small difference in the debate.

The two above paragraphs are the fist I’ve written since June of this year. I’ve haven’t written in my journal and have only made two comments on line responding to stories I’ve read (both this week) about the Canadian election. Why you may ask, simple…I’ve failed and had come to believe that writing and speaking out was a waste of my time and energy.

A few days ago I accepted the offer of my mentor and friend to go for an ATV ride in the Rocky Mountains, it’s something he does regularly and I do once in a blue moon when our schedules match up. We spent the day riding hard and seeing some magnificent sights and during each break we talked politics (American and Canadian) elections (American and Canadian) and world events, which of course are three of my favorite topics. These days never fail to lift my spirits and allow me clear my head and enjoy myself immensely.

A couple of days later I went to his house to help clean up after our muddy adventure and he asked me why I stopped writing. When I told him that I was frustrated and disillusioned with writing I expected supportive guidance but got no sympathy. I was reminded that throughout my 20 year military career that I never quit anything, I may have failed a few times but I never gave up and there’s a big difference, he also reminded me that I’ve fought hard for my marriage and to move my family financially forward, he then asked again why I’d stopped writing.
I had no answer and after sleeping on it woke up to realize that I must apologize to those who have read and commented on my past pieces and apologize to those blog sites that have supported my work over the past three years for letting them down during such an amazing time in world history.

We have stunning mainstream media failures in reporting on American election issues, American politics and world events. We’ve watched as the MSM jumped onto the Senator Obama bandwagon and ignored his lack of experience, his lack of judgment and his extremist friends and now we are watching both the MSM and the tabloid press rip apart Governor Sarah Palin using her family and sex as the explosive material.

I stopped writing about the appalling lack of coverage of world events; about the Chinese using the Olympics in the same way Adolf Hitler used the Berlin games to demonstrate that the Nazi way of governing was superior to all other ways. I stopped writing about the environment and how the left, led by former Vice President Gore have hijacked an important debate and have skewed the scientific facts to support their positions and how the MSM have let them turn it into a dogma that cannot be challenged. I stopped writing because I believed that it was a waste of time and then was reminded what I’ve always known, you can’t make a difference if you don’t try and while you may fail you can look yourself in the mirror and say I did my best. I haven’t been able to do that for the past three months.

I’ve got a lot to say and have let it build up so I’ll give you fair warning that you’ll hear more from me in the coming days, probably more than you’d like. Hopefully in time I’ll regain your support again but if not I’ll understand and continue to write.