The Source

Anton Chekov, the guy who pretty much invented the modern short story, the medical doctor who saved hundreds of lives (for practically free), was wrong. And what's more, he was wrong about writing. Way back in the 1900's (and this isn't some post-modern nostalgic way back in the 1990's, but actually way back around 1905) Chekov commented to a concerned family member that happy people write sad stories and those in pain write happy stories. I'm pretty positive he was full of it, totally depressed, and didn't want to talk about it. Writing comes from a deep place inside that you can't, and shouldn't, try to separate from yourself. Just ask every other writer out there, in fact don't even ask them, just read a random book, short story, or poem. It's right there in the words. People write what they know. I'm not here to criticize or laud one over the other. Writing with happiness and sadness both have their merits and have both given us fantastic literature that has lasted longer than you or I will. But in this contemporary society we live in numbness is the new depression, a lack of any strong feeling except self pity. The great writers of the post-modern age (whatever that is) have used this idea to feed off of. They have formed deep, well-planned, emotional opinions about what this means and how to live with/through it. But, for the rest of us does it mean an inability to express beautifully what we mean to say. People 150 years ago could write...well, let me rephrase that--literate people 150 years ago could write. There are countless letters from those with much less than the degree I've earned who could express thoughts beautifully. With all of these means of freedoms of expression have we as a culture lost our ability to feel something at our core when it is most necessary. Take some time to seriously consider what you are feeling, whether it be happiness, excitement, sadness, or pain. Ignorance has cut us deeper than any grief might have, we've too often lost our ability to experience and survive through what has been for centuries the source of our greatest means of communication--story telling.