against futile melancholy

A woman I know went through a stage of deriding her husband for saving up his words. Her theory went: he'd been alotted a limited quantity to last a lifetime and was afraid of running out. Seems the man was onto a good thing. People should say less. And we should write even less than that. Or maybe I just struggle with what seems so obvious: we should think something through and write from a point of view, rather than reacting to any and all stimuli to come up with the chimera of meaning.

I recently read a blog that suggested the best thing we can do in response to Katrina & Rita is keep living our happy lives. Really, is that the best thing we can do? I don't know. How about reducing the amount of gadgets we buy, so we contribute less to the oceanic warming that spurred the tropical storms in the first place? Volunteering to rescue the survivors among 90,000 animals left behind? Determining to live with more grace, mindfulness, and action? We are mistaken to shrug shoulders at this natural disaster (made in the USA) and say, ‘Ah, the show must go on’ with a bittersweet glaze over our eyes.