|
The terrible news about Norway lies like a grey blanket on everyone`s mind. The notion that our world is sinking into senseless violence is frightening. Add to that a warning given by scientists recently that the human race only has ten years left to turn global warming around or else we are heading for catastrophe, and it makes me wonder, when I sit down to write, "Why should I bother?"
Why should writers bother to produce short stories to amuse or edify, write poetry or novels to stir or entertain? And if we do continue to pour out texts of various kinds, does it matter to a doomed civilisation whether we use too many adverbs or whether our spacing is correct?
There is a quotation some say is mistakenly attributed to Martin Luther:
"Even if I knew tomorrow the world would go to pieces I would plant my apple tree."
Apparently it first appeared in 1944, when the world was certainly going to pieces. It didn`t and since then writers have continued to write.
But the world as we know it is changing rapidly and not necessarily for the good.Maybe we should all be out there planting apple trees, both literally and figuratively.
Or is writing our way of doing so?
|
