Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Devil in the Details

St. Elmo Bar, Bisbee, AZ
It seems like a lot of motorcycle bloggers have an article entitled, "Why I ride a motorcycle".  This entire website is devoted to that subject, shooting off into different directions and exploring each detail.

Popeye used to say, "I am what I am, and that's all what I am."  Yet, there are hundreds of self-help psychology books focused on that very same sentence.

Losing weight is as simple as eating healthy and exercising more.  Yet, there are thousands of strange diet plans that offer the same concept in a more detailed and confusing way.

Sometime it's best to keep a thought simple and allow others to explore the minutiae of what it means for them.

Each individual has his/her own personal filter, built on their life's experiences, that makes it impossible for one writer to take a single thought, extend it to hundreds of pages of detail, and get millions of people to arrive at the same conclusion.

Maybe an article entitled, "Why I ride a motorcycle" could just be a photo of a glass of beer and a motorcycle helmet. Maybe a self-help psychology book would be better off with just a single page with a single sentence.  Maybe the next new diet fad could be sold as a bag containing a banana and a pair of running shoes.

By writing out so much detail, we stifle peoples' own creative juices to explore what it means to them.

It's said that "a picture is worth a 1,000 words".

Perhaps all I need to do is show you a photo, and let each of you write your own words, using your own life's filter.

  
  

4 comments:

  1. I ride to feel myself, hear my inner voice, and block out the noisy world.
    Love you,
    Sash
    http://www.sashmouth.com/2013/10/motorcycle-deafness.html

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  2. When I tell myself to 'use my filter' it is usually because I really want to say something inappropriate/sarcastic that won't be received well.

    I agree that our life experiences definitely help define us and what life and riding mean to us. I think my posts have evolved over the years and include more pictures now and less words as sometimes I don't think people really want to hear all the minute details but enjoy the pictures. We as people are quite visual.

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  3. I've been riding longer than I've been blogging but still haven't written the 'why I ride blog'. It's hard to put into words and I'm afraid to define it so closely.
    I enjoy your blog. Thanks.

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  4. It is what has to be done... A way of life.

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