A Matter of Perspective

I was going to respond to the letter to the editor in last week’s issue line by line but decided to only say this, as much as I know other people in other countries have suffered at the hands of the United States, I also know that my friend from Ukraine and her family who remain in that country are fighting a war that is very real and the facts they gave me were not just hearsay. My friend’s sister makes her way to the bomb shelter often in response to the air raid sirens. Her fears are real that her son will be forced to join the military and go to fight on the front lines. These things are not hearsay.

I am fortunate that I did not know people from those other nations at war. I knew my friend who was from Ukraine and that is why I wrote the story so our readers would have a personal look at the situation.

Now for something completely different . . .

I found one of my old journals the other day. There is nothing really strange about this. I find things now and then when I am cleaning my desk or moving furniture around.

But this particular journal was unique in that it was being written as a book instead of a journal per se.

Saying “per se” made me smile for a moment and think about my mom. She used to say “per se” a lot.

I spent the first Mother’s Day without her this year. It was rough. The week leading up to it was rough.

The day of was rough.

But back to the journal.

As is usual for me, I hadn’t gotten very far in the book before I either got sidetracked with another project or thought it was stupid and gave up on it.

As I read through it I thought, “Hey, this isn’t half bad. Maybe I should start back up where I left off and make a go of it.”

Maybe I will. I have roughly 50 such manuscripts lying around my house. Most are a good chapter or two into them while some are completed or nearly completed.

I guess the age-old problem I have had since youth keeps nagging at me—these are not “good enough.”

I need to start doing some wholesome self-talk and realize that some of them are “good enough” and are worth a second look.

Perhaps one day I will have an authentic published book—that is finished!