Telling it like it is

From time to time the fence is straddled on whether I should write about controversial topics or those things that are less attention grabbing. I have found that anyone who writes for public consumption has a purpose. Although it took a while, I have finally come to terms with what my purpose truly is—to incite public discussions and debate issues that we have a tendency to assume are not applicable to our situations or community. My goal is to bring paramount issues to the forefront of people that are affected most.

I have discussed subjects that would make many people uncomfortable. They include race, poverty, heterosexuality and homosexuality, sex, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), education, obesity, and death, just to name a few. Some of articles have received rave reviews, by my standards, and others were not as accepted by the readership. Admittedly, many of the articles were embryonic and did not even scratch the surface. However, they did afford an opportunity for people that were interested (and even those who were not) to investigate the issue and thereby gain additional insight.

By no stretch of the imagination do I assume that I posses the abilities of John McCain, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to articulate my thoughts. This is not to say that I will never have their abilities, but quite frankly, they are remunerated for their verbal articulacy and more than likely are paying someone to outline their thoughts for them. On the contrary, I write because I am personally engrossed in the issues presented, as well as genuinely concerned for the intended audience of my work. In essence, neither the eloquent, public speaker nor the ordinary, unpaid columnist wants to tell it like it is.

As I have already eluded, I too am guilty of not representing the issues in their truest form—hence the bit about "surface scratching". It appears that very few people are willing to accept the responsibility of presenting society's problems without the necessary sugar-coating to avoid the inevitable negative sanctions. Here's my opinion. I believe people, for the most part, are aware of the issues, have heard it all before, but have an unwillingness to accept them. They claim, "It doesn't apply to me, my family, or my community". For example, parents may not want to know that their teenage child is not only sexually active, but also having unprotected sex. These parents may be fully aware of the prevalence of teenage pregnancy and the risk of sexually transmitted infections, but are in some state of denial that their child could engage in such activity. They may also want to avoid the guilt associated with the assumption of failing as parents. What is more important, protecting the child(ren) or your feelings?

People are not willing to "tell it like it is" these days because of the negative stigmas attached to that group. Personally, it is not my intent to become the modern-day Martin Luther King. I not only want people to be aware of the goings-on in society, but shift into action in their homes and communities. It doesn't require an academic, scientist, or other professional to tell it like it is—anyone can do that. The requirements are people willing to hear the messages, make realistic assessments of their applicability, and spring into action. © 2008 Keydron Guinn