Hardly Worth The Wait
Two weeks without posting, and I asked myself about my own online reticence.
Fact is, I simply haven’t been interested in posting here. I don’t think I’m alone in my apathy. The few blogs I read have slowed way down. Family and friends with whom I correspond aren’t taking the time to write. The world is wearisome and worrisome and just not worth the expenditure of emotional calories to keep up with. Some folks enjoy dissecting and analyzing and predicting the trends in the world. I’m not among them.
Less than a dozen people regularly read this blog — that’s not even a jury, not even a football team, not even a swing shift of wait staff at Red Lobster. It’s just a small number of human beings, all of whom have more pressing concerns than the uninformed key-tappings of an aging rustic like me.
I pray that all is well with those of you who read these words.
~ S.K. Orr
43 Comments
Joanna
I love this blog. I found you here thanks to Bruce Charlton. What a joy! Please don’t stop writing. I am a lurker; I have never commented before; but I want to encourage you. By the way, I am also a wannabe Catholic stuck in the Reformed world.
admin
Thank you, Joanna…may God bless you on your path.
William James Tychonievich
Ah, I see I’m late to the party here! I know the feeling of apathy you’re describing. It seems to be in the air these days, and I have also been affected.
I stop by here often — one of a tiny handful of blogs I read regularly — and it’s always worth my time. No one else is doing the same thing you do.
I’m not sure where you got the figure of less than a dozen regular readers (subscribers? daily page view?), but it’s obviously a lot more than that. And even if it weren’t — even if you had no mortal readers at all — what you write would still be worth writing. Think of the ancient artists who painted deep in the recesses of nearly-inaccessible caves, or the Gothic cathedral-builders who carved no less carefully those gargoyles that would be inivisible from the ground.
admin
Thank you, WJT, so very much. Your remark about the artists who labored without any audience at all…that really brought me up short. Great perspective. And thank you for it, sir. Hope all is well with you and yours over there across the pond.
Dc
God bless keep posting
admin
Thanks very much Dc.
JAMES
S.K. (if I may)
I followed your “About Me” link and from what I read you seem to be just a man, tried and failed but also tried and had success. I believe that’s true of any of us, (man or woman).
I used to watch the news, I used to read the papers. I don’t anymore. There is good news out there but it is rarely is reported. I try to find the good daily.
You have GOOD and UPLIFTING to share. Don’t let a slump in traffic slow you down.
admin
James, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your generous comment. I think your strategy of trying to find the good daily is a sound one. I try the same.
Grandad
Another one for the baker’s dozen.
I have been following for a while now and look on this site as a quiet haven from the Restless Rabble. I am a companion on your wanderings with Jinx, [in spirit anyway].
admin
Grandad, thank you so much for the encouragement. I’m very far behind in my correspondence as well as my blog posting, and I wanted to ask if you ever received the email I sent you back on July 15th? Hope all is well with you and your family. God bless you all.
Grandad
New mail sent. I hope you get it!
admin
Got it, and I re-sent my original email. Many thanks!
Brian
This blog feels like a cool country pub. I stop here on most days for a pint. It’s always delicous and I’m never over-served. If it’s closed, I’ll take another peek tomorrow. I will keep coming back until it closes or the owner is pushing up daisies.
Back in the mid 1970’s my family was close with my best friend’s family. We lived a block from each other in the NYC suburbs. My sister, who was about 21, had a “sisterly” relationship with my friend’s 16 year old brother Mike. (I was abot 10 at the time)
Mike was adopted from an abusive home and got into drugs at a very young age. He was a very cool guy and was known to fight schoolyard bullies and stick up for their victims.
He ran away from home for about a year and my sister told him to call our home phone at around 10pm and let it ring once, just to let her know that he was ok. We got that ring a few dozen times and my sister occassionally was able to pick up and talk to him. (He ended up in a traveling circus and was as far away as Texas at one point.)
Anyway, Mike came home but he continued to have troubles with drugs and the law. My sister told me that she never prayed so hard for anyone in her life.
Mike died, along with 2 friends, in a horriffic car accident at 17 years of age. A few nights later, our phone rang once at about 10 pm.
Consider this a 10 pm ring! I pray for you and all of your readers daily (along with about a dozen other friends) during my Morning Offering, before my feet touch the floor.
We’re all suffering from some kind of post-election, corona-weary malaise, I think. I find myself staying in bed for an extra 10 minutes, just staring at the ceiling lately…..it’s strange.
admin
That’s a wonderful anecdote, Brian, and I’m so glad you wrote about Mike. May he rest in peace and see the face of God, from Whom he came. It’s such a mysterious thing…who can say whether the 10 pm ring was Mike, determined to let y’all know he was home and was ok? I choose to believe this was exactly the case. Such a tender and bittersweet story.
Thank you for the “10 pm ring,” my brother. I appreciate — and I’m sure my readers appreciate — your regular prayers for those who visit this little blog. Please know that I pray for you and and all the readers, for whom I am so grateful.
Your “cool country pub” remark was wonderful. It made my week. Thank you, brother.
Genie Hughes
Oh, so well said! Cool country pub is perfect. You walk in, everyone is different but perfectly complementary in the most important ways. You are another wordsmith.
admin
Absolutely. Brian’s good.
James
I have been reading the posts and comments here for a couple of weeks and subscribed a week or so back.
Do what you have to do regarding the continuing of the page, but I do hope you continue.
admin
Many thanks, James. I think I communicated my thoughts poorly in my post. I wasn’t announcing that I was going to stop posting. I was just expressing my weariness and creeping apathy, emotions I see around me everywhere, including in the blogs I most enjoy reading.
I can’t post every day, but I’m not planning on going anywhere. Thank you again for reading and for commenting.
James
This is good to hear. Many thanks for the clarification. I enjoy the read.
Carol
I know the feeling you describe….I’ve felt that “apathy” for some time now –
– longer than two weeks, as there were several posts you had written which I enjoyed and considered commenting on but just couldn’t muster the mental energy to think what to say.
And I’m sure you have more than a dozen readers, as I know there are more than a few who (like me) are not subscribed, but who most likely check regularly for new posts and probably (like me) pray that all is well during your longer hiatus’s.
;^)
admin
Ah, Carol, my friend. Thank you. Thank you for the comment and for the understanding. We’re all going through an unprecedented rough patch right now. It’s important to be reminded that we’re not as alone as we think we are, and that, as WJT says, there are more with us than are against us, even if we can’t see them.
Elwyn
I too may be counted amoungst your “less than a dozen” readers, although this would be my very first comment, I read ALL your posts, and without the post that many bloggers such as yourself make, life in the “real world” would be very quiet indeed.
Regards.
Elwyn
admin
Elwyn, I am indebted to you. Your comment helped me see that my feeble efforts here are not performed in complete isolation, and for that, I thank you sincerely.
chokingonredpills
Enjoyed reading your writing through which I am given a “tour” of places, scenes and images that I may, at this point in time, never visit. I love how you share your thoughts and observations.
admin
I’m so glad you found this blog, ChokingOnRedPills. Thank you for taking the time to say something kind. I hope you’ll stick around…
Francis Berger
I’m immensely pleased by all the comments this post received. It just goes to show you aren’t writing into a void, even if it does feel like you are at times.
Don’t worry about who the posts may or may not be reaching. God will ensure your writing finds its way to people who will value it and benefit from it.
What you do here is Good, S.K.; truly Good, in the capital ‘G’ sense of the word. And right now the world needs all the Good it can get.
admin
Francis….hey, man. I mean…your words are like the proverbial cool drink of water in a desert land. Thank you, brother. And I can aim your words right back at you, and what you do over at your superb blog. Many thanks, my friend.
Some guy on the internet
I agree with all the above commenters. I read every post and all comments and look forward to new posts. I read new posts through a blog aggregator (feedly) so it may not appear as a page view which could account for a lower than expected number of page views. Anyway, there are plenty of enthusiatic readers out here!
admin
I’m genuinely grateful, Some Guy on the Internet. Grateful and humbled. Thank you, sir.
Viv Maslen
Just checking in as a recent subscriber. After discovering your blog, it’s been a favourite of mine this past summer, a place of quiet reflection amid all the troubling events, and internet shouting. You’ve a real gift for writing about the natural world and the poetry in daily life. When there’s not a new post I’ve been reading the back catalogue.
I’ll be here too if you feel like writing again. Thank you for your words, from a Catholic housewife in England.
admin
Viv, your comment was a pure delight. Thank you so much for reading here, and especially for reaching out with a much-appreciated comment.
Ian
Hi,
I assume that the number of readers you mention is counted from those who subscribe to the email notifications.
As well as those who read the posts through email subscription, I suspect there are many more who read the pages on the web and your readership is much larger than you imagine.
Even if there were only a dozen readers, it would still be worth the while.
Keep on writing.
admin
Ian, thank you so much for visiting and commenting. Your words mean a lot.
Mary
Your writing is eloquent.
I come here to be reminded of what is real: the enduring love and companionship of husband and wife; the goodness of rural life and of mountains; the struggle in which we each engage with our fallen human nature and the fallen nature of our fellow man; the sweet secret call in our hearts from the One Who desires to save us and the struggle of prayer as we learn to let Him; and the wondrous bond between a man and a dog.
It puts me in good humor to read what you write. I am encouraged. Thank you.
admin
Mary, what a kind comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to lift my spirits on a bleak day. I hope you’ll keep stopping by. I’ll keep posting as best I can.
Craig Davis
Your key-tappings are far from uninformed and all things Jinx brighten my day. Whenever you feel like writing, I’ll be here to read.
admin
Thank you so much, Craig. You’ve long been a source of encouragement for me.
Genie
I ABSOLUTELY understand. All is well. Saying my daily prayers, reading all my blogs, glad to see your post. After the latest shot across the bow, I will definitely retire. Our other decision is that I will leave earlier rather than submit and we will down scale retirement plans drastically. We will be up in your neck of the woods sometime in October. There are ups and downs. When you are in a down time don’t fight it. Read, hug Jinx -and the Mrs.! – eat things you loved in childhood. I just ordered the entire set of Little House on the Prairie and The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe books, Justin is rereading Raymond Feist. Cooking Russian and Lithuanian food, for some reason. 🤔
admin
Good to hear from you, Genie. Sounds like y’all are doing exactly the right things. Retirement…ah, what a blissful dream. Let me know when you’re going to be up in these parts.
stef
Always worth the wait.
David Earle
Add me to the less than dozen…
I just recently started reading your blog and enjoyed your writing style and thoughts, so added you to my site (newworldisland.org)
admin
I appreciate it very much, David. I’m truly encouraged.
admin
Thank you, Stef, as always.