by Craig Ruvere
For almost a decade, I was a weekly editorial contributor for a well-respected, established newspaper – sharing my thoughts and ideas in a column entitled The View from Here. For a starry-eyed dreamer such as myself, this was truly a dream come true and the path towards getting started on this blog.
Though only in my mid-twenties when I began writing for The Leader, my persona was more befitting of someone much older and wiser than my age would suggest. I now believe it was that level of compassion and maturity that ultimately led to the popularity of my columns over the years.
Filled with honesty and sincerity, my words were inspiring, heartwarming, and thought-provoking in a world of materialism, stereotypes, and biases toward one another. I hoped my unique approach to writing this column would bring about change in as many lives as possible while showing readers that not all twenty-somethings are only interested in themselves.
The response was truly unexpected. Cards, emails, phone calls, and a few times I was actually stopped on the street by loyal readers genuinely expressing their admiration for one of my most recent columns.
To this day, I am still incredibly humbled and grateful for the unsolicited responses I received over the years.
But things rarely stay as they are in life. In the words of Anatole France, “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”
The once thriving newspaper industry has ceased to be relevant in today’s technological age, where information is now obtained on tiny hand-held devices 24 hours a day.
Sadly, The Leader fell victim to what seems inevitable for many publications around the country. Unable to stay afloat through a turbulent economy, their last publication, and my last column, appeared in late December 2010.
While I came to terms with the unfortunate demise, I rediscovered a few scrapbooks I recognized immediately but hadn’t flipped through in quite a while. During the course of writing for The Leader, my wife diligently and religiously cut out tear sheets of every article I had published – neatly gluing them on the pages of an oversized scrapbook. I’m sure she has no idea what a cherished, enduring gift that was for me.
As I began thumbing through page after page of columns, some dating back to 1999, I had forgotten about many of the columns before me and found myself overwhelmed with a sense of pride and accomplishment.
As I approached the last page of the scrapbook, I began to reflect on my time as a columnist with The Leader. I wondered if I myself had learned anything along the way – if the thought-provoking ideas I had passed along to thousands of readers had done anything to inspire me.
In truth, they had and I believed in order to do my part in continuing to better society in a positive way, I needed to start writing again – getting started sharing my thoughts and ideas the way today’s generation of readers expect to get their information.
Getting started – The View from Here is born
In February of 2011, I launched The View from Here blog and welcomed a brand-new audience to my thoughts about love, life, and everything in between.
You’ll notice as you go through my blog, how often I use relevant quotations from other people. I find they enable us to make important connections with others who share similar ideas and thoughts.
One you’ll see quoted over and over again comes from everyone’s favorite neighbor, Mister Rogers. I’ve always had a great appreciation for Roger’s teachings, and his words are utterly inspirational to me no matter how many times I read them.
Some have asked why I continue supporting this blog. It’s simple really, for a positive change in yourself will inspire a positive change in others. Getting started is how that all begins.
The good of one is seen by many and the hope is that it spreads like wildfire until the entire world has been ignited by the flames of respect and compassion for all our friends unknown.
Those people who are just like you and me. They live, and they struggle; they love, and they cry; they fight, and they fear – all with a beating heart inside of them that longs for acceptance for who they are and where they come from.
While some parts of this blog will be downright funny or sentimental, others will pull from the headlines and truly make you wonder about the state of the world we currently live in and the circumstances we must overcome.
Of course, I don’t expect everyone to agree with my opinions. But what I do hope will happen is they will inspire you to think about something you might not have thought about before. To learn a new way of looking at things and maybe even at yourself. After all, “Growth is the only evidence of life.” – John Henry Newman
Thank you for joining me on this continued journey of discovery. I hope you enjoy and your feedback and comments are always welcomed.