People Have the Right to Live Their Lives

I was driving in to school on Friday morning, listening to our local NPR station.  One interview focused on a new television series, Treme, that is set in post-Katrina New Orleans:



It was interesting to hear the story of the rebirth and rebuilding of this very unique American city, told by a journalist who has spent some significant time in the once devastated city, learning the people and the culture of the place.  As he talked about the genesis and concept of the show, Treme, he descibed bits of the social milieu of New Orleans, that cannot be seen by those who are merely "touristing" in the place.  He described the time that he'd spent learning his way into the place, coming to know the people in their bars and homes and churches and clubs; slowly coming to absorb the culture of the city by being in it.  It is that experience and that understanding that defines the shape of the television show.  The writers of Treme are less concerned with explaining the phenomenon of New Orleans to the viewer, and more interested in simply portraying the place with as much fidelity as they can manage.  It is, then, up to the individual to do the work to learn to know what is.

And then, he said the most interesting thing, "Exposition is soul killing.  People have the right to live their lives without explaining it to you."  My ears perked up and I almost gasped out loud, "YES!"  I called Master, still at home, and asked Him if He might write down the references for me so I could remember how struck I was by that notion -- so that I could find my way back to it this evening when I had time to write. 

How true that simple declaration is for those of us who write these blogs.  We gather up and preserve the bits and pieces of our very real, and sometimes almost inexplicable lives, and we lay them out here in whatever semblance of order we can manage.  Our stories and our dreams and our hopes and our fears festoon the "pages" of these personal web-based diaries.  For our readers, learning about who we are and how we live cannot be a matter of simply cruising by as if one were on some sort of air conditioned tour bus. 

I can't speak for any of my neighbors in this corner of the blog universe, but this blog is not meant to offer advice.  It isn't a place for people to find some sort of BDSM "how to."  It isn't a collection of stories or butt pictures.  Truly, there are no "explanations" here.  These pages chronicle our minutes, our hours, our days.  Spend time, and you'll find us open and friendly.  Piece by piece, reading here, a person might come to know us and know our lives by simply being with us.  Get to know us, and you might find you wonder why we do this or how we came to be like that...  And if we've come to know you and trust you, we might take pleasure in showing you what it is that you want to know.  That will go better for both of us if we avoid the temptation to try to describe and detail and explain.  Let us live our lives the way we choose, right in front of you, and watch how it evolves.  Doing that will show you things that we'd never be able to TELL you, and it will speak to us of respect and tolerance and acceptance.

I really like it:  "Exposition is soul killing.  People have the right to live their lives without explaining it to you." 

swan