Ever since I started blogging on behalf of the Greater Impact Foundation www.greaterimpactfoundation.org I have received many comments, positive and otherwise. I enjoy the feedback. It helps me focus. Makes my writing better. However, one comment, in particular, hit a discordant note. The writer basically said that it doesn’t seem that my missives are written for or to anybody but myself. I think he was trying to be constructively critical, saying that it seems like I’m talking to myself in the mirror, which, I admit, I have a tendency to do. I cannot deny that. More directly, I think he was saying that if I want to build an audience for the website I need to write about things people want to read about. That comment raised my ire. If you don’t want to read what I write about, then don’t. I tell my friends who rale at incendiary pundits, just turn off the TV. It is that easy.
I am not a newsman. Nor am I a correspondent. I am not a professional writer. Nor am I at all interested in hits, clicks, sound bites, CPMs, appeal to advertisers or basically anything on this big blue marble that seems just a tad patronizing just to attract an audience. So, I guess I am guilty, I do not write for you.
E.L. Doctorow, bless his sole, did not write for me. But The Book of Daniel which I read decades ago still reverberates with me today. I am fairly certain that those that still annually visit Edgar Allen Poe’s grave know that he did not write for them, even though they all feel touched by the dark potency of his pen. In fact, I know of no one embraced in the literary canon who gave a shit about anything but what interested them, not you, not me, and certainly not anyone who put pen to paper to speak of what most engaged themselves. It may sound blasphemous but I do not think even Mr. Trump, our current national court jester would write for anyone but himself. That is, if he could write at all.
I know my writing is less than stellar. I know my subjects are narrow and personal. I know that is the truth, nevertheless, I write because I cannot express myself verbally as well as I would like. It is my default mechanism. Yoga is an escape for some, as is running to free one’s endorphins. Writing is an escape for me, however brief, and I know it creates a conundrum. The writing I do for the Greater Impact Foundation blog lets me express myself, allowing a little time for reflection, but I am also expected to expand my audience to make people aware of the great work the Foundation does. It also lets me talk about the wonderful organizations like Sistema Biobolsa www.sistemabiobolsa.com in Mexico, Edom Nutritional Solutions https://www.facebook.com/edomsolutions in Kenya, Good Weave www.goodweave.org in Nepal, and Food for the Poor www.foodforthepoor.org everywhere. So, I guess I have to modify my approach or just make a plea to my readers to like, share, comment, forward or just shout from the roof tops that this blog is worth the two minutes it takes to read.
Hopefully, I am mildly entertaining along the way. Hopefully, you will value the content. Maybe, you will even be motivated to follow GIF www.greaterimpactfoundation.org to learn more about the enterprises and entrepreneurs we work with, or even get involved. That would be awesome.