Beginning to write again...

I haven't been posting much the last several months.

There are both reasons and excuses and the lines blur between the two.

Even today as I begin to attempt to put my feelings and thoughts into words, I don't feel inclined to do so.  That is, I don't feel like writing.  The very thought of words seems overwhelming.

I suppose the war on words has got something to do with it.  People are being silenced because of sharing the wrong words, too many words, too few.  When people write or speak their ideas, those ideas are confused or misused, and so it hardly seems worth saying anything at all.

I'm sure I'm late to the party.  I typically am.  This censorship and cancel culture has probably been around quite some time, but it took the last several months for me to be introduced to it personally.  The scrutiny and skepticism surrounding what is shared and how it's shared and when it's shared has never seen a darker hour in my opinion.  It's like everyone is being stalked by the idea-police, and your spoken or written words are being monitored for political incorrectness. Or just incorrectness.

Again, maybe it's always been so.  To some degree I suppose I've felt the weight of my words in years past, but not like this.  I've known the power of my words for good or bad.  I've felt that I've needed to be careful when opening my mouth or writing down my thoughts because the impact of what I say.

So I sit here today beginning the journey again of 'putting things into words'.  It seems more bone-chilling than other times I've mustered the will to keep writing.  This isn't the first time I took a hiatus from jotting down my observations and wonderments and inspirations.  But this feels different.  To keep writing has less to do with having something to leave behind to my children and more like a rebellion to not let my soul be silenced by the mobs.  To retain the right to think for myself.

So let's see how this goes.