johnmaconline

When I was a kid, we played good guys versus bad guys. I’m Gen X, so it was Cowboys vs Indians, cops vs robbers, or the US Army vs the Russians.

We mostly divided the roles randomly. Sometimes, I’d be on the good guys’ team, and sometimes, I’d be on the bad guys’ team. It was equally fun on either side. We certainly didn’t consider the roles explicitly. We didn’t think much of it.

But in real life, who doesn’t want to be one of the good guys?

Often, we outsource the decision of who the good guys are to our tribe. It makes sense because the good guys see the world the way we do, think and feel like we do, and say the things we agree with. So we get on their team, take their side, and cheer them on.

But if we lift the covers just a bit and look for ourselves, we find that we don’t know who the good guys are, or they’re not as good as we thought, or maybe we start to align a little bit with the bad guys.

Sometimes, I think we had it right as kids. Let’s just divide up the roles randomly because neither side is what it seems.

Comedy is tough right now. I get that.

Actually, art, in general, is tough right now. But is that really any different than at any time in history?

Interesting art usually treads the line between cultural norms and the taboo. Sometimes pushing over that line. Many times polarizing. Rick Rubin says that good art can divide the room.

I’m open to laughing at anything. I (like to think that) cultural norms do not affect my ability to find the funny, see the perspective, and enjoy the take.

Like any good art, good comedy pushes the edge. It shines a light on the absurd, at least from a point of view. The comedian using laughs to play with the emotions of the subject.

But if you’re gonna push that edge with comedy, it better be funny, or else its just tragic.

I believe God brings people into your life.

People that push you. People that help you. People that test you. People that love you.

People for you to push. People for you to help. People for you to test. People for you to love.

And people that complete you.

When that person comes along, grab them, and don’t let go. Because with them, the good times are better, the purpose is clearer, and the bad times are navigable.

I’ve grabbed onto you because you complete me. The good times are better, my purpose is clearer, and the bad times are navigable. I thank God for you every day.

Here’s to 30 more.

I believe that most of our collective issues arise from differences in perspective.

I see it this way. You see it that way. They see it the other way.

My group cares about the right things. Your group cares about the wrong things. The other group is evil.

I also believe that solutions to our collective issues derive from empathy.

The best way I’ve found to engage empathy is to care about, seek out, and genuinely try to understand other perspectives. The proverbial walk a mile in another’s shoes. The more we latch into another’s perspective, the better we understand what they think and feel and, more importantly, why they think and feel.

Perspectives are built through personal history, and personal histories are stories of experiences, sights and sounds, group affiliation, and even geography. The world looks different, sounds different, and tastes different over here.

One of the best methods for broadening perspective is to change geography, if even for a short time.

It’s a big world. Get out there and explore.

Fear is an interesting engine.

For some, it drives them inward — to protect, shrink, and even blame.

For others, it drives them outward — to go on offense, beat one’s chest, and act as if they’ll take matters into their own hands when the moment arrives. 

For the last couple of weeks around here (southeastern Pennsylvania), a convicted murderer was on the loose. He did a fanciful job of escaping prison and then eluding authorities for eleven days. If you listened to The News, Satan himself was running amok. 

Across the whole community, we had all of the reactions to the fear. Some wouldn’t step outside their doors. Security systems sold out (unusual since this is a rural community). So were guns and ammunition (purchases not unusual — sold out unusual). One guy was driving around on his 4-wheeler vigilante-style with a bulletproof vest and his rifle strapped across it. These were the reactions that The News highlighted. The toggle switch headlines, of course. According to The News, all of the southeastern PA had stopped their lives as the manhunt continued.

But if you talked with most people, their reactions to the situation were quite reasonable. They paid attention, ensured the house and cars were locked up at night, and generally were just a bit more diligent. 

But nobody stopped living like The News would have you believe.

Turn off the damn news. 

I will continue, at least for now.

I’m not sure what roads we’ll take, but then again, that’s one of the points of the project. Keep the articles short and manageable, but explore widely.

I’m fiction curious. I’m curious about how I can use ChatGPT better. I’m curious if I can group some of these daily shorts together into longer forms useful for others. I’m curious if I can build an audience. I’m curious if I can dig deeper with more personal stories.

Onward and upward.

Needing daily topics sharpened my observation skills.

That’s definitely a good thing because it required more presence in my surroundings. I was on the lookout. My subconscious prompting my conscious to engage. 

Sometimes topics came to me easily through something I saw, read, or experienced through conversation. Other times, they emerged from the quiet moments. The spaces between actions. 

The world produces plenty of content, but often I was short of attention. I found myself tuning into the nuance, the overlooked, and the subtle patterns amongst the chaos. Although sometimes the chaos itself provided the content. 

The art of deliberate attention. What did I notice today that I might’ve missed yesterday? How can today’s observations lead to tomorrow’s revelations?

One last curious and maybe surprising observation about observing — I found myself taking less pictures focused on the moments of the day and simply using my senses to engage and allowing the sensory perception to burn itself into my memory. The story — as I remember it — being the critical piece, not the concrete image of “how it was.”

Do what you want with that.

More to come…

I wondered if it would get easier as the year wore on.

It got easier, but not in the way I was thinking. The writing itself didn’t get any easier. The commitment, however, did get easier.

I knew that each day I had to write (except for just a handful). At first, that was a daunting task. But as the year wore on, that commitment became something I looked forward to rather than dread. In fact, here I am, still going.

The writing, though. Still the same. Some days it flows. Others, well, it’s a cat fight.

I gave myself the 250 word limit to give myself permission to write and publish small bits. Short would be ok. 

But a curious thing happened along the way. Many times I found myself having to cut articles down to fit within 250 words. I didn’t expect that, but I started to learn the importance and power of editing. I know I’m too wordy (also when I speak). So the 250 word limit helped me focus the content. 

Sometimes I spent longer editing that I did writing. I think that’s a good thing. Many great writers talk about the importance of editing, removing unnecessary words and explanations, and honing the final product.

I have not always kept 250 words, but when I go above, I do so with intention. 

“If you eliminate the unnecessary words, the reader will have time to catch his breath and to think.”

– Ernest Hemmingway

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story. The second draft is you telling the story to someone else.”

– Stephen King

“The more you leave out, the more powerful it will be.”

– Raymond Carver