BEING MATERIALLY UNSUCCESSFUL

WHILE HAVING A SPIRITUALLY SUCCESSFUL LIFE

I have just read two articles on a social media platform which inform me that I am an utter failure. The raging, screaming, idiotic political mania which are currently overwhelming our news cycles — rather than discussing the honestly important news of our day and the consequences on our lives — inform me that I am an utter and complete failure. Not only do the political hacks tell me I am a failure (I worked in politics long ago and have some very definite opinions about politicians and everything they say and do), but according to all measurable levels of societal success and merit I am a failure.

My response to them one and all?

Bully for you.

One article informed me that I will never be a successful writer. That person is wrong. They have no idea of what a raving success I am. The point of my articles is not now, nor has it ever been, to be on the top of the best seller lists of the New York Times, the New York Review of Books or The Washington Post. I know that my writing is incredibly better than at least ninety-nine percent of the writers who have appeared on those lists. I also know that my writing is so very distinctive and unique, of such a massively different ilk, that the boys and girls who decide what writing sets off the alarms of Google’s algorithms, what is theoretically salable and what is not, have no freaking clue what to make of the articles I write. They were clueless about the style, format and language of the memoir I…