Writing Truth

"If a writer is so cautious that he never writes anything that cannot be criticized, he will never be able to write anything that can be read.
If you want to help other people, you have got to make up your mind to write things that some men will condemn."
From Echoing Silence: Thomas Merton on the Vocation of Writing,
Edited by Robert Inchausti.

I've been asked why I am so blunt, why I tell the truth, why I can't handhold people into learning a better way to live. If one cannot be blunt, especially when so well researched, truth rarely comes out. I am honest. I am truthful. Truth can change as perception changes, but honesty never can. I may change my views on everything tomorrow (I'd honestly be shocked if this happened!), but I'd be honest with it and explain the reasoning behind my sudden changes. If I am not completely and utterly honest with my words today, then I wouldn't want anyone to believe anything I say tomorrow -- even if my words become what others want to hear. Life is short, if we don't become better people each and every day, we become stagnate and wilted. If others before me hadn't had the strength to tell me their truths, I wouldn't be where I am today.

I live in a country, the United States of America, that cherishes the idea of free speech. Check out the First Amendment. Our ancestors fought for this privilege, yet thousands are unduly ridiculed and chastised every day due to the words that they say and pen. The founders of my country would be appalled.

I am a writer. I was reminded yesterday that I should write what I know. I know this deep in my soul, yet it is when I bare the most honest truths of my existence and experience, when I open myself up the most with my truthful honesty, it is then that I am condemned the most. I am told that I am not telling the truth, not saying how things really are. There is no other way for me to show my truthfulness than to show the realities of my own life.

Here and in my fiction, I will persevere and continue to tell the truth. I may never be published in the manner that I desire, but I will know that I never faltered from being myself. Ultimately, it is the only gift I have to give this world.

This is me. This is my life. My writing is my truth. Enjoy and may you be empowered to live the best life that you have in you while I live the best life that I have in me. This is me: