Finding the Delete key
Oh, hi friends!!
I started to write some sort of metaphor here, a kind of opaque comparison that may or may not apply to you. Then I erased it.
Then I started to write about the friends I’ve learned from this week, and how to communicate those lessons here, too. Then I erased it.
Then I started to think about the privilege of centering myself in any conversation at all right now. Erased that, too.
When we write, we capture a piece of ourselves and our emotions. We might write to discover who we are, what we think, what our characters think, what we think about what our characters think, our personal point of view inside the world.
There are sloppy first drafts, major edits, minor revisions, final tweaks. There is furious, inspired typing, and there is the one-fingered tap of the Delete key. There is hesitation. There is not knowing what to say. There is finding a single word that sounds alright, and considering that small solace among the many other words that don’t fit the way you want them to.
Perhaps that’s how our minds work, too. There is a constant reworking, tearing down, building up, and refining. Old patterns replaced by new ones. All the while, we analyze, debate, discover. We are constantly learning lessons — from others, from ourselves. (Hopefully.) Our conclusions are always clearer than our introductions.
To know the rough drafts can be honed, the faulty ideas can be chucked, the possibilities to be more informed are endless — this is a gift that arrives after putting in effort.
Type a word, hit Delete, type another. You might find something if you try.
A Song in Sixty-Six Words
No one, no one has a voice like six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald.
Here she is singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara