Arise Darlings

A new year is upon us! A time to get back on that horse we fell off once the doldrums of the Fall and the melodrama of the Holidays set in.

Some will follow the latest fashion, pick up the most popular books of the season, stick to losing those ten pounds, polish off their resumes. But what of the rest of us? What becomes of those that seek something else, something less tangible..Truly there are some of us that long to search deeper, to seek inner peace, to finally publish those thoughts and ideas that have taken residence in the maelstrom of our souls.

This is the 85th installment of this site. Back when I first started, this was simply an idea, filled with trepidation. Friendly voices told me to go for it, yet I lacked the self-confidence. Eventually, I opened up to the idea of having others take shelter in my own reality. And this is exactly why I speak to you today.

Look, you have a lot to say and your reasons for doing so, and I commend you for it. We don't have to be in the front of the line waving the proverbial flag of rebellion, faces painted shades of blue. The trenches? We've already been there, toes firmly buried in the sand. You want the spotlight and the glamour? This is not the place for that. There's a time and place to dress like Ziggy Stardust.

We are the ones who truly dare, to speak through pixels, while you sit in the laundry-mat, while you sip that first cup of coffee, giving voice to those that have none. We are the darlings of our own misfortunes, and we bask in the cloud of our role. We hope that someone will listen, that somehow it will spark thought, ideas, discourse, indifference, angst, intercourse, something! It is a thankless task, to be that darling of misfortune, that rebel waist deep in the snow of our own dilemmas.

Call us cowards and we'll smite you with adjectives so profoundly, you'll be picking up teeth in every one of the seven continents. We are not heroes, we are not faceless stick figures that you can burn at the stake for your own amusement. We rise with the tide of the calling that washes over us every day. To be compelled to write.

Let your fingertips do the talking this year. I'll be watching hoping to embrace you as one of us darlings.