Why?

Why am I writing this blog?

What makes me think I have anything of value to say? How can I imagine my “meaty words” are tasty to anyone else?

Or as some (including myself) might say, “WTF?!”

As is so often the case in life, there are multiple facets to the answer. All of them are true; none of them comprise the complete answer. Some of them may be delusions or illusions.

Some of them aren’t very flattering.

But FWIW, here’s WTF (in this case, “W”=”Why”).

⊗ I believe I have the soul of an artist (I’m not saying I’m a good artist, mind you), and artists need to create and need to put their work out there. I can’t paint, sculpt or draw, but I do think I do okay with words and ideas. I do this to feed that urge to create (foremost) and to be seen (definitely part of the equation).

⊗ I have the stunning conceit to believe I have something worth saying. I’ve lived a fair number of years, and I’ve benefited from a good and rich education. And I’ve read and thought a lot about life. Bottom line, I think I’m worth reading. (At least sometimes? (Maybe once in a while??))

⊗ I believe I also have the soul of a teacher. I delight in the way someone’s eyes light up when the light bulb goes on and they find their world expanded. That experience and education I mentioned above is something I want to share with those who are interested.

⊗ I crave affection, admiration and approval (don’t we all)? As someone without strong family connections (even my dog died), I find myself more or less alone in the world, and this is a way to reach out and connect.

With regard to that last, I confess that I am a highly alienated misanthrope whose life experience has repeatedly confirmed that Sartre was right when he wrote that, “Hell is other people.”

Perhaps it’s just been bad luck and life changes. I do have hermit tendencies that go way back; the internet suits me well.

Maybe I’m just a solitary creature.

But as any human does, I crave connections with my peers, with those who think like me (and, thank heavens, they do exist). I don’t, won’t, can’t connect with mainstream, so I hope for the approval of (even a small number of) cognoscenti with the background to appreciate the material.

Or, better yet, I hope to reach those with questing, exploring, thinking minds who might be interested in learning from an old fart foggy guy like me.

Now,… you may have expected to find on this page the common rejoinder, “Why ask why?” Nope. (Except that, of course, there it was.) I’ve always thought it was a particularly silly thing to say.

Asking, “Why,” is one of the key things that makes us human.

It’s what makes us different from animals, plants and rocks.

So keep on asking, “Why?“

It’s good for your mind.

34 responses to “Why?”

  • ladyofthecakes
    December 24th, 2012 at 4:11 pm

    Nice write-up… I can relate to the essence of this. I find that, as I get older, it gets harder and harder to find people to connect with if your life path diverges somewhat from the norm. But like you said, they are out there 🙂 And the internet certainly helps.
    Hell is other people.
    Heaven is other people, also.

    Reply
    • Wyrd Smythe
      December 24th, 2012 at 4:23 pm

      Thanks for dropping by and commenting! I love your handle (I love cake, too).

      I do agree completely; the coin has two sides. For every horror there is a joy (and vice versa), and there isn’t much on Earth that can make you feel as miserable or as wonderful as another human being.

      Reply
      • ladyofthecakes
        December 24th, 2012 at 4:28 pm

        True. And there IS a new Star Trek movie coming out next year, after all. We always have that to look forward to, lol.
        I’m old enough to have watched – and loved! – the original series. Aw, those were the days 🙂

      • Wyrd Smythe
        December 24th, 2012 at 4:34 pm

        Yep, same here (you’ll find a lot of posts about Star Trek here!), I grew up with Kirk and Spock and Bones and Scotty. I was already a science fiction fan by the time the show aired (life-long geek here—you’ll find lots of SF stuff here, too).

        I haven’t entirely made up my mind about the rebooted version yet… it’s so “not my Star Trek” and there were bits that seemed pretty far from canon. [shrug]

      • ladyofthecakes
        December 24th, 2012 at 4:43 pm

        Yes… I see where you’re coming from. I found that the ‘reboot’ was much better than I had expected. I’m def up for the next installment. Even if I have to schlepp into Madrid for that, as I cannot-absolutely-cannot cope with a dubbed version. Maybe I’ll go and see it in London.
        Will be raiding your sci-fi archives shortly.

      • Wyrd Smythe
        December 24th, 2012 at 4:58 pm

        I’ll definitely check out the new one (likewise The Hobbit, which I’m also not certain about—early word hasn’t been encouraging). I think I’ll have to see the rebooted Trek movies the same way I see the Mission: Impossible movies; as exciting, interesting movies that really have no connection whatsoever with much-loved, well-remembered childhood favorites. Once I got over the shock of the M:I movies (Jim Phelps a traitor? WTF?!?!), I quite liked them.

      • ladyofthecakes
        December 24th, 2012 at 5:11 pm

        It’s the only way to look at it – the new stuff can’t be faithful to canon all the time.
        Star Trek TOS was very much a product of its time – apart from the obvious technological aspects, just look at the roles allotted to the women, lol.
        Am curious about The Hobbit. I never read the books, because when I attempted it two decades ago, my English just wasn’t up to scratch. Need to give that another go.

      • Wyrd Smythe
        December 24th, 2012 at 5:29 pm

        Well, your English is certainly up to scratch now! I had no idea it wasn’t your first language until you wrote that comment. Kudos! We USAians really suck at the whole bi-lingual thing. (I’m fluent in over a dozen computer languages… does that count for anything?)

      • ladyofthecakes
        December 25th, 2012 at 5:17 am

        That is impressive, and I certainly think that learning languages – computer or human – stops the brain from calcifying as one gets older 😉
        Plus, we’re both earning our living that way, I assume.

      • Wyrd Smythe
        December 25th, 2012 at 1:42 pm

        Programming or just using our brains? Yes, either way—I very much believe the brain is a muscle that needs to be exercised least it decay. I have a strong lust for learning new things!!

      • pendantry
        April 14th, 2013 at 1:15 am

        Sheesh! Get a room, you two…

      • Wyrd Smythe
        April 14th, 2013 at 10:30 am

        Aw, come on. Lady + Cake! Who can resist that?!

  • Lady from Manila
    June 16th, 2013 at 4:51 am

    Your very last line just above makes me laugh every time I read it. 😀

    Reply
  • Deb Weyrich-Cody
    December 4th, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    From the very moment of our birth, until the end, we are all dying… It is simply the end to the beginning, a simple fact; there’s nothing to be done and nothing personal about it.
    Right and wrong. Day and night. Yea and nay. We all need balance and moderation. Namaste, D.

    Reply
  • Deb Weyrich-Cody
    December 4th, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    I wouldn’t take any of that too personally and harbouring a guess here that, mathematically speaking; for those of us outside the mean, the statistics are not terribly reliable; )

    Reply
    • Wyrd Smythe
      December 5th, 2013 at 9:15 am

      True, but there’s living in the suburbs of the bell curve and living way, way out in the extremely flat regions where other souls are few and far between. It’s like living on the top of Mount Everest or the bottom of the sea: almost no one goes there. 😕

      Reply
  • athenaminerva7
    March 19th, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    A great many things which may end up on here if it doesn’t make look like a stalker as I tend to do stuff in batches.

    Reply
  • Aishwariya Ramachandran
    July 11th, 2016 at 8:33 am

    Hi, Your writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader . The on-looker who passes by has the feeling of your writing being rained upon . Not the feeling that it is raining! 🙂 But definitely it pours on more . Looking forward to reading more!
    – Ishu 🙂

    Reply
    • Wyrd Smythe
      July 11th, 2016 at 10:06 am

      Who dares rain on my words! XD

      Hello, welcome, and thank you for commenting! I hope you enjoy your reading journey here! 🙂

      Reply
    • Wyrd Smythe
      July 11th, 2016 at 10:32 am

      Say, I wonder if I could ask you about something I’ve been wondering about for a while. I noticed you visited my Who and Why pages, but not the main About page… Is that because it’s not clear that the menu item at the top (“About”) is also clickable?

      ‘Cause I’ve gotten the feeling people don’t realize the top menu items are also clickable and lead to pages…

      Reply
      • Aishwariya Ramachandran
        July 12th, 2016 at 3:05 am

        I wasn’t aware that I can click on the main page as well. I would suggest you to keep the main About page without subdivisions.

      • Wyrd Smythe
        July 12th, 2016 at 7:19 pm

        Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of. With this menu, all the top level items lead to pages, but at least for some that top page is just a place-holder. I think I’ll copy About down so readers can find the About page either way.

        It occurs to me this may be another casualty of pointerless mobile devices… A traditional way of recognizing clickable links is noticing the mouse pointer change. No pointer, no pointer change!

        I’ve been using HTML pretty much since it came out, and I miss hover. WordPress removed the ability to edit title attributes in links. Bummed me out. I used to put a bit of useful info in the hover popup!

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