The Sin of Omission

Image: AI generated image of the seven deadly sins (I know, there are nine. Apparently, AI cannot count.

There is an old maxim that goes something like 'It's not what you say, it's what you leave out.' As a writer, I find that I write a significant amount that never makes it into the finished novel, perhaps as much as forty percent. Why? Since I do not believe in writing from an outline, my first draft essentially is the outline. I find that I write a significant amount of backstory for each character because I need to know it, in order to ensure that character remains true to their core values, but I do not need the reader to know. Those elements should then become apparent through the action of the text, if they are important, and they should disappear, if they are not. (Writer's Note: I'm not talking about when a mystery writer reveals the culprit, and it turns out to be a valet attendant who appeared once for a paragraph in Chapter Two. That's just lazy writing.)

Turning to current events, we see that our government is trying to rewrite history through the act of omission. This week, they eliminated a clause in all contracts that forbid federal contractors to segregate facilities (bathrooms, changing rooms, water fountains, etc.) for their employees by race. They also continue to strip from government websites stories like Jackie Robinson's military career, the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII (both thankfully restored), an African American Medal of Honor winner from the Vietnam War, and on and on.

What is wrong with these people?

They do not think any achievement by a woman, a person of color, a recent immigrant, someone who belongs to the LBGTQ+ community or a person with a disability has value. It is absolutely stunning how openly racist, homophobic (they took down the photo of the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima because of the word Gay) and misogynist these people are. They claim they want to restore an ethic of merit, but all that means is celebrating the people they like. Merit is in all cases determined by context--there is no universal standard of merit--and even then, you have to understand the motives of the group that is determining what counts as meritorious to know if it is just another way of excluding those who are different. We must call out every statement and action that is an attempt to gaslight the American people by retreating from the truth. And unlike merit, truth has a universal standard.

We cannot abide cruelty.

Tomorrow, March 22, would have been my dad's 90th birthday. Today is the 9th anniversary of his passing. The timing of his passing--the day before his birthday--encapsulates my dad's personality perfectly. He believed in hard work and in finishing what you started. If something was worth doing over, it was worth doing right the first time. No hanging chads here!

Win a free Kindle edition of Love: a novel of grief and desire: I work with Reader's Favorite on the Kindle book giveaway. If you go to readersfavorite.com/book-giveaway you can sign up for the monthly giveaway. You can scroll through the list of giveaways (over 500 each month) or sort the list by title or author to find Love: a novel of grief and desire and put your name in for this month's drawing. Good luck!