"Only when we can build bridges between ourselves can we hope to build a bridge to all there is."
-Me
Over the past few days since my website went live, several people have shared with me their congratulations, encouragements, and emotions about the site. I want to take the time to thank every one of you who have read, shared, and/or commented on my material. I am extremely humbled and comforted to have, thus far, found a soft place to land.
Often times the most difficult thing about being a writer is, well, writing. What do you write about? How do you write it? What do you say? How do you say it? Who's your audience? How will it be received? Will people get it? Will people like it? Will people hate it? Will you be effective in getting your point/opinion/observation across? And a host of other questions swirl through your head.
This is what I've been sitting with since launch. Where do I go from here? It's somewhat laughable, 'cause one would think, after spending so much time on a platform; that I would obviously have had something to build on it, right?
Right!
Many don't know, but I have had an online presence in the form of a "live journal" since 2004: www.garlandj.livejournal.com. It spans the time from 2004 when I graduated undergrad in Georgia at 22 years of age 'till 2012 when I turned 30 and commenced my journaling project "100 Days 'till 30" where I chronicled the first 3 decades of my life in 100 days. There were years I was more religious in my writing than other years. But the entries always seemed to follow moments of inspiration, frustration (and there was a lot of that), anger (there was a lot of that too), or moments of crystal clear insight!
So, having looked back and now looking forward, what makes this site different than previous projects and what exactly am I seeking in this new experiment?
Why This and Why Now?
I have never been a creature of brevity. I love words far too much! But in this project I wanted to do far more than just "talk." I want to teach, I want to heal (myself and others), and I want to create a community of "hollow bones" reaching across the aisles of difference to touch the true essence of another human being. They say that we teach what we also need to learn. I am an imperfect and wounded healer as are many of you.
As of this post, I have currently stepped into the fourth decade of my life. And at the age of 31 I am feeling a strong sense of paying it forward and paying it back. I find myself standing in an ever rapidly changing world. And I look back and I see generations coming after me that are far different than the generations that preceded me. Things are getting lost in translation. Information and technology are changing the very quality of relationships we are having (and often for the worse). We are more siloed, less communal, more rushed, less communicative, less patient, and more and more preoccupied. It's an ever increasing push for "out with the old, in with the new." I have also become a willing participant in this experiment we are currently having.
But I'm also concerned about what we are losing through the cracks.
The fact is, we are in a shift. I feel that anyone who is keen or sensitive enough has already felt it. It's subtle but men and women of wisdom have been discerning the ages and the times for millennia. It is all around us. All we need do is, instead of fearing the shifting sand underfoot; plunge headlong into the water. (Some of you will get the significance of this statement.)
We humans have a tendency, however, to swing from one extreme to another. Having grown up in a pretty conservative environment and then moving to a fairly liberal one, I learned a valuable truism; to much of anything is bad. What we need is a bridge from one extreme to the other. On this bridge we would be able to share the "goods" of both shores and hopefully come to a far more amicable existence. The old can inform the young, the young the old. The right can inform the left and vice versa. The black the white, the white the black. The believer the doubter. The nonbeliever the saint.
Actually, we need a shit ton of bridges and a slew of bridge builders! Our politics, our religions, our spiritualities, our mental health, our racial divides, and our very planet depends on these bridges being built. Because in a tug of war, one side always loses. Our world is not built on the paradox "What happens when an unstoppable force meets and immovable object?" No, these battles always have dire consequences in the end. And the price paid is always in human souls.
So, I want to help build bridges. Bridges need to be built in our politics, our religions, our spiritualities, our sexualities, our understanding of who and what we are on this planet of Earth, in our economic classes, our mental health systems, and within our diverse racial communities. I can only speak from my own experiences and observations. I am not perfect and my opinions are filtered through my own understandings and world-view.
But all these things interest me. I sometimes get flack from people who ask me why I'm always talking about this, that, or the other. My response is, "Not talking about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist and that you are not in some way affected by it."
This is why I'm starting this new project. My story is important. Your stories are important. Our stories are important. Let's learn together. Let's get to building!