What Should I Write About?

For many reasons which I have mentioned and of course will again mention, I am aware of the avalanche of "information", thanks to the sneaky invention of the "yes or no" transistor, so that few of us "know" what things are of importance, or even what we should listen to on the short time matters of "making a living" or even survival. Consequently, I do not know what things are of sufficient interest to me to think on, or to you, to be of some early use.

Actually, I have hundreds of "subjects" on which I can do a column -- or is it thousands? -- if I were to look at the 2 to 10 feet of cut out newspaper sheets awaiting my attention, while I contemplate stopping the New York Times Weekend because it gets in the way as I intend to read it, and then trip over the last issues.

When I say to my first wife, "What should I write about?", she says, "Oh, about a page. Your clergyman father said that the congregation shuts off in less than 20 minutes." So I decided I would write about a page on what I should write about, since readers today are not only fewer but have shorter attention spans too.

And so, here I am at the end of the page, and I still don't know what, of the awful lot of choices at my elbow, I should write about.

I've run out of time, but I have written a column. So, next time, I'll do better.

Calling My Column

I notice that there is an active industry in cornering names for commercial enterprises, including writing. Apparently, copyrights and even patents have been issued, to tie up names until someone makes some money and has to buy their own name if they have not protected it. In my case, I have written unpublished columns for years, or is it generations? I have done radio and television programs which I have not protected, some running in Asia after fifty years.

"Don To Earth" is a favorite tag of mine. "Things of Nature" is another. A favorite book is Instincts of the Herd, and I write columns which specify or detail ideas indicated there. That book is over a hundred years old. Some titles of series of columns coming from it could be "We Must Be Herd" or "So You Must Be Herd" or "Have You Herd?" Maybe I should register them anyway.

My Country, 'Tis of Thee is herd material. So are the followers of Mohammed, though the Sunnis and Shiites hate each other as did the Protestants and Catholics of old. There used to be Coptic Catholics and Eastern Orthodox descendants of the Roman Church, but now Catholic means the old Roman Catholic. But back to my own concern with rights and ownership of names.

I'm not sure if I favour a general tag which can cover everything, or rather anything, as "Don To Earth" can, or if I should have series titles which indicate or hint at more limited interests. Dear me, I seem to have made a column of this. I'll be back.