Where They Come From

By G. E. Shuman

          I’ve often been asked where the ideas for my newspaper columns come from. Admittedly, I’m asked this question by my ninety-five-year-old mother more than by anyone else. Her children, like mine, and like yours, are all brilliant, so I don’t really have to comment when she says something like: “I don’t know how you do it.” I usually just look down, grind the toe of my shoe into the ground, and say “Aw, gee… shucks, Mom.” Not really.

          In any case, I decided that in this first column written in this brand new year I’d tell you how I do it, and where the columns come from, at least to the point that I have an answer to that question… that you didn’t ask in the first place. (See, two short paragraphs in place already, and I didn’t even start yet. This stuff is easy.)

          Truthfully, and mostly seriously, I’m not sure where all the columns come from. It’s been over twenty-five years now of writing one of these for the paper every other week, and I guess the well hasn’t dried up yet. In fact, my wife once called me an “endless pit”, but I’m not sure that was meant as a compliment. I would like to think that some talent or at least ability has something to do with getting my thoughts on paper and IN the paper, but I’ve never been sure of that, (unless I’m talking to my mother.) What I am sure of is that the theme of a column, the ‘germ of an idea’ is rarely my own. Most commonly I write a piece because of something I have heard or read that someone else has said or written. What I do here is to simply relate that idea to you, because you’re my friend, and you always listen to me. Right? Hello?

          It is true that I often base my writing on some quote or idea from the mind of someone else, and recently electronics has helped me handle those quotes and ideas. I used to scurry, (although it was always a very slow scurry,) for a pencil and paper if I heard something that I thought was a bit profound and relatable. Now I just reach for my phone and make a note on that.  Ain’t technology grand? (If you sensed a bit of sarcasm in that last short sentence, your senses are good.)

          Here are a few recent paraphrased thoughts that I will likely use in the future. I don’t know exactly where either of them came from, but at the time I heard them I must have thought they were worth making notes of because they’re on my phone. One thought is this: “Impossible is just an opinion.” I love that idea and believe that ANYONE could write a thousand words or so about those five words. Another stolen idea that somehow made it into my notes is: “A change is as good as a rest.” I think that was from a movie or TV show, but I’m not sure. I AM sure it will soon find its way into the paper.

          I wanted to do this particular column because, as we begin 2020, I hope we will take this new ride around the sun a bit more seriously than we might have taken the last one. I hope we appreciate what we have and WHO we have, and let our lives be a bit more enriched by those things, but mostly by those people. Listening to the ideas and experience-born statements of others has always helped me write and has more so helped me live.