What in the World?

Writing a book takes focus. On a related set of topics or just one topic. This is because the reader will be confused if the author doesn’t corral the issues into a logical whole, enough to maintain order and cogent thoughts.

So, I’m trying to write a book. This arduous task has been on my to do list for many years. Writing a blog has helped keep my sanity. The blog has also helped me articulate a broad range of issues. Over time we see that the many issues are actually interwoven into pretty much one mass.

One mass. But it still needs to be discussed and written about so both author and reader know what is being focused on at any given time. Then the written thoughts are available for more analysis and pondering. The mass thus is broken down into digestible pieces.

And then the purpose of doing this must be identified. So many purposes are possible here. Which one to choose? What will be the most logical ones to pursue? Which will the masses of people everywhere support for implementation?

Why talk about all these things if we don’t plan to do something constructive about them? To choose to do nothing only exacerbates the problems and worsens them into tighter knots that become indissolluable. Not fixable. Hopeless.

So, with Hurricane Harvey raging on the American Gulf coast inundating entire states and hundreds of thousands of homes and cars, life as those residents know it will be forever changed. For the rest of us we wonder if we will be affected similarly one day. And of course, Texas’ problems will have an economic and governance impact on the rest of us. It is inevitable that we share the costs of such burdens.

This and many other current events are roiling and amassing in our culture today. We need to withstand them and understand them. We need to adjust to them and accommodate them for future living methods.

So selecting the major topics to write about, and propose solutions for, is what I’m faced with at this time. It is not easy. I’m not alone in this task. I have friends who are talking me through this. We so far have enlarged the concerns and issues to be studied. So options elude us for the time being.

I’ll keep you posted on progress made on this project. It is so much easier to ignore it and let someone else do it. But then that’s why we all have the problems weighing on us today. Too many people failed to take note and do something responsible about them when they were less complicated and cheaper to fix.

Let’s hope we don’t keep doing that. That is not fruitful in finding solutions we need now.

I think we all need to think on this a great deal. And talk about it. I call it ‘noodling’. Then jot down the most important elements discussed, with fresh ideas. I call that ‘doodling’.

Maybe noodling and doodling will do the trick. Want to be a part of this?

Let me know. [saffordcu@gmail.com]

September 4, 2017