Okay, now what?

This is supposed to be a reflection on the  A-Z challenge, what it has meant to me, what I’ve learned, what I planted in the back yard because, really, isn’t that what blogging is all about after all?

There is a difficulty today to say anything of significance in the face of headlines in typeface reserved for the outbreak of war and the abdication of royal heads of state. There is a delirium right now over the death of the face of terrorism to the western world. It is ignoring a couple of things: terrorist organizations still thrive, the conditions which gave rise to them still exist and Osama was long ago placed in the position of a figurehead. This senseless blood feud will continue as jihadis seek revenge: US soldiers are still in Iraq, US and its allies (including Canada) still have soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan.

As Churchill said, in 1942, to mark the Allied Victory in the defeat of the Axis in North Africa and the victory at El Alamein, “this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

I think this is the one thing I’ve learned about blogging during the past month, it is a fluid thing. In the weeks leading up to April 1 I noted ideas for different letters of the alphabet, composed a few posts and scheduled them for the specific dates. But as the month itself progressed there were many days where it was a matter of applying discipline to construct a post. Those days, in my opinion, are when I learned the most about writing and expressing myself.

Of course it is important to plan ahead, to have ‘one in the chamber’ at all times and to show up no matter what. The time to polish, I’ve always known, is important, no less so in blogging but perhaps a more delicate procedure to maintain the sense of immediacy, a record of the day, the moment. The bottom line is I have quite a few ideas to explore over the next months. They seemed like good ideas until the morning dawned and a better/different one showed up on my doorstep looking for a new home.

Thank you, Arlee. I don’t know what brought me to your blog in the first place but I am glad that I did. The feeling of having others pacing with me around the track through the month of April was unique in my experience of writing.

It’s election day in Canada. Considering the events of last night, I can think of no better way to celebrate the great democratic tradition, planted as a seed on the battlefield of Runnymede in 1215 and improved upon over the centuries than to get out and vote for the candidate of my choice.

See you next year…