Doublethink and the Question of Blogs

1 minute read time.

With some trepidation, I am putting back my blogs.  This is the one that caused the little storm.  I have changed six words.  Here goes - I will hit the 'paste' button ... The others are coming back, slowly ...

 

 

I used to be be very cynical about blogs.  I used to wonder, who are these people who so badly need to find an audience that they start 'publishing' their random jottings on the Internet for strangers to read?  Surely it is all to do with vanity, with solipsism, self-aggrandizement and self-promotion.  It is the last resort for the failed writer:  it is part of a culture that reveals 'all' on the surface, but is lacking substance in the things that really matter.  Worst of all, blogs can be a daily version of the dreaded Christmas ‘round-robin.’

It had not occurred to me that blogging could be therapy.

Here is my thought for the day:

The point when I realized that I could not really function any more with my job was when I was trying to explain the concept of ‘doublethink’ to senior pupils – we were studying ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’ The only analogy I could come up with on the spur of the moment was that you can sometimes know, intellectually, that someone is going to die but also believe, absolutely and simultaneously, that they are not.  You can hold two contradictory concepts in your mind at the same time. (I wonder whether Orwell was thinking about this aspect of being terminally ill? He was dying himself.) Clearly, this was perhaps not the most useful concept for teenagers when I should have been looking for political analogies.  I did manage to finish the lesson – but only just.  

But death?  My husband defies death, shakes a metaphorical fist, and pulls up his very thin body, and goes on, as much as he can, as usual.  He is not suffering from doublethink.  He is suffering from denial, according to the GP.

And tomorrow, having had a set-back with PDT, I will be back on the phone to ask what on earth they are going to do now. 

 

Buzzie Of The Night.  (It doesn’t quite have it, does it?)

  

 

 

 

 

Anonymous
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hi Buzzie - I just wanted to say that I loved your "Thought for Today"!!! I know of what you speak. Keep 'em coming.  Mo

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    everyone of us is going to die sooner or later, just that some of us choose to just get on with living and that seems to me what your husband is doing so tell your doc he is not in denial hes just making the most of things....i got NHL. it could kill me...but so what ? walking across the road could also kill me or going out in someones car could result in my death..as for blogs i think people use them for all sorts of reasons, yes some appear to be seeking attention , some to let friends know whats going on, others for therapy , it matters not really...we only need reply on blogs or read them if we choose to do so....good luck to your hubby..

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    I blog each day because we have the option here to do so and by sharing experiences some people can indentify with them.  It can also inspire someone that is having a bad day, or show sometimes that life goes on and we still do the normal ordinary and often boring things - it also proves to me I am still here and annoying people ;)

    It gives me something to get up and do now that I am retired at 42, I draw a lot from the other regular bloggers here, a lot of laughter and tears and that folks is LIFE!

    Love & strength

    Debs xx

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    I don't blog every day but I blog about every day since soon after diagnosis. It helps me and that is a good enough reason on it's own. I also get many many comments and emails from people with support for me or asking questions that I might be able to help them with.

    Hugs to everyone who wants one and hugs to those who don't at the moment!

    :-)

    Andrew xx

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Quote: We all support each other. (Macmillan)

    Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

    Cheers,  Mike