Wednesday, July 3, 2013

It Was Really Good. I Swear!

 I WROTE WHAT I considered to be one of my best pieces of personal writing for this week's blog.  I submitted it to a trusted friend for review.  She approved.  Ultimately, though, I decided to destroy it forever.

Why? Mostly because it was too personal, and it surrounded a true story of another friend which, while extraordinarily powerful, and one which I strongly felt needed to be told; but I ultimately decided that I could not bring myself to ask their permission to share it, even with names and details altered.  Even altering it further, I decided it would have too many markers that could make the individual in question identifiable.  I do not think this person wants this story shared, at least not in that manner.

Self-censorship is the baton that beats most of my writings into submission.  I crossed more than a few lines with last week's post, and I'm now using Facebook's privacy tools to even further limit the audience for this blog, lest I run afoul of my employer's strict (and totally reasonable) social media policies.  As a journalist, I must be objective; while having opinions and expressing them is a normal part of life, it is considered poor judgment to do so when one's career depends entirely upon objectivity and fairness.

As a reader of this blog, I trust that you believe I am capable of being evenhanded in my work, even in spite of my own beliefs.  But I gotta tell you, holding back kind of hurts sometimes.  Then again, the fact that no one using the relative anonymity of the internet holds back much at all is the primary reason I avoid reading website comments sections or Fox Nation.

Interestingly, I have in my unpublished blog entry a good starting point for what I hope will someday be a book.  That, ultimately, will require the participation of the subject, so it may never happen.  If it does, you'll be the first to know.

To my American friends, enjoy your holiday weekend.  You know where I'll be...