Write...

I feel most inspired to write when on aflight, when I feel a bit "above the nuances of mundane life" Pic clicked with a Samsung S3 on the way from Stockholm to Krakow in Oct 2013.

People should write. You are excused if you are handicapped at expressing yourself. If you are bad with words. Or if you have an uninteresting life. But too many people out there lead tremendously interesting lives, are good with words, have interesting opinions, and yet fail to put them down somewhere. And those thoughts are just blown away and forgotten, lost to oblivion, to laziness perhaps.

A lot of what we write stays on forever, especially in the age of electronic media and unlimited zeta-bytes of storage. I do not know if it happens with everyone, but I have been deeply influenced so many times by things I have read, sometimes written by people who are not necessarily famous authors. Sometimes anonymous quotes have inspired me. Random writings have made me think. General words on the internet have forced me to re-think. Blogs have made me want to do things. Books have changed the way I have viewed life, or at least some parts of life. Travelogues have made me want to travel. Life narrations have made me not want to go into jobs I would have sucked at anyway.

So when we read something that influences us, enriches us, rekindles thoughts within us, gives us something that we did not have, isn’t it fair to give back something to the world in return, some small portion of our lives that may someday enrich someone else? Why then does everyone not blog? Or at least write in some forum? Or opine in some way to the world?

People who travel should write about their travel, a lot of people who do not have the fortune to see the world through their words. People who are artistic should express their passion for their art, a lot of people (like me) without the instinctive flair on a canvas, on an instrument or some other place would love to know what it feels like to possess that talent. People who live extra-ordinary lives, people who do crazy things or even just interesting things, should write about those experiences. I am sure we all do something extra ordinary in our lives. Or think something that nobody else can imagine. Is it too much to just pen it down? Maybe nobody will ever read it. Maybe it will be forever engraved in the mind of your great grandson who never got to meet you. Maybe it will influence someone in some far away country (or planet, commercial interplanetary travel will be a reality in the next generation). We underestimate the power of words. We underestimate the interesting lives we all lead. We underestimate ourselves.

Saw this on my ex-CEO’s blog (who interestingly lives an interesting life and writes about it :) )

“Earn respect not wealth; touch lives not gold; inspire confidence not fear; focus on people’s hearts not their ranks”