My Solitude in a Lively World

There's no greater gift to me than a revelatory insight about something that I get when I'm writing. But my joys are often cut short when I turn to share my discovery with others, only to be met with backs turned. Upon inspection, I see they are crowded around the other great conveyor of meaning: the narrative.  I look and watch the narratives unfold as they do and appreciate them to the same extent, but there is always an itch at my back, a whisper in my ear that calls me to a lost form: the analytical essay. It is something that they teach in schools as purely an exercise for someone else's goals. We are taught to hate it. But I, as my favorite discovery, have learned to love it. 

I am probably the slowest reader in the world, so I have learned to learn through writing instead, and through exploring my own ideas and thoughts. But again and again, whenever I catch something, nobody is ever there to see it. They only see one way to enjoy the meaning in the world, but I see two. I know they would appreciate the other way if they could see some great instances of people traveling through it. Oftentimes, conversation is like an analytical essay, with each person exploring each other's thoughts as well as their own. We love conversation and we would all love essays too, if we could learn to express ourselves in essays in the same way we express ourselves through conversation. We tend to use our observations about the world simply to pass the time, not to build something unique, which is the great and true potential of our observations. 

One great reason that stop people from writing essays is patience. If we don't have patience to firstly find what interests us, we won't arrive at something that will inspire us to think new, original thoughts. Then, we must have patience in between ideas, when examining our work and trying to find a lead to another idea. This can sometimes take a while, and if it takes too long, then one should stop and move on to other ideas that they can write about. 

I have found an art to express myself in where most people see a system to follow for someone else's purpose. I write this in a community that thrives, but for a community that is nearly non-existent. My hope is to inspire people to become both writers and readers of analytical essays, and to break our misconception of essays as simply a tool that we must use for work. Hopefully, one day the crowd will turn their heads and gain sight to a whole other, lively world.