Being Relevant

I'd like to shout something out into the great silence.

First, I stopped posting my original recipes here awhile ago because I discovered that someone was "lifting" my whole posts, pictures and all.  I felt so betrayed, so robbed.  So I ceased to share recipes.

Second, I have also frequently heard that "no one" is blogging anymore, and what's the point because it's boring to read anything longer than a tweet.  But, oh my, I tend to write a lot.  A lot.  So I stopped writing even though there were some people reading.

Third, I recently heard a fairly well-known YouTuber say in one of her videos that older people were "not relevant" to the current world.  Needless to say, I felt a bit bothered about that, so I posted a note that said that maybe I should just fade away quietly since I am older.  Now, all would have been forgotten, except that the YTer herself answered my post with one of her own saying that "of course, we don't mean You specifically."  That ticked me off--who specifically did she mean to insult?  What are all the old people supposed to do?    I unsubscribed.  Doesn't hurt her but at least I used my tiny bit of power even if it didn't make a dent; she's getting no more ad revenue from this old lady's click.  So there's something else I quit.

I've been frustrated by a lot of unkind comments from various people (online and in real life) who have called me a liar, who have told me to die, who have told me that I should be ashamed for being from Mississippi, who have called me "a waste of time and space" (the latter comment was actually from family, oh my goodness), who have had a lot of uneducated things to say about my disability, and more.  I need not go on.  This stuff is just painful.  

Seems like all I hear anymore is negativity, and that makes me feel.....bad.  Just bad.  And it's not fair.  Even on an awful day, I'd rather sit in the sunshine than cower under a cloud.  The trouble is that I have to remember to make that choice.  I have frequently been guilty of cowering in the past couple of years, and that's not good.  

So I have been thinking about all this stuff while I've been making marmalade the past few days.  It's not easy standing at the stove, especially after surviving two bouts with Covid.  But I've been gifted with some citrus fruit and I want marmalade so I'm willing to pay in pain to get the job done.

I like to create recipes.  Sure, I'm no pro and I am more than capable of messing things up but we learn by making mistakes, don't we?  That's what I think anyway.

And I still like to write.  Admittedly it would be nice if people actually read.  Maybe they will; maybe they don't.  This reminds me of that well-worn Koan about the tree falling in the forest and no one hearing it.  But I guess someone out there thought I was good enough to steal recipes from so maybe there's some reason to keep mashing the keys on my laptop.

Despite being a Senior Citizen, I believe that I still have relevance.  After all, the older we get, the more we have experienced in life and the more we can share.  It would be nice if someone cared, if someone listened.  I can't make anyone do that but I can still write, I can still create, and I can still make a joyful noise in my own way.  

Yeah, that makes me relevant.  Why?  Because it's relevant to me.  And that is Good Enough.

Life is still good enough for me to keep trying.

Will I share my marmalade recipe here?  Maybe.  But it takes three days to make from start to finish, so be prepared.  And if you wanna steal my recipe without crediting me, shame on you--your mama should have raised you better.