Seven years
Today, I complete seven years as a journalist.
Scratch that.
Today, I complete seven years in the journalism industry.
Wait, scratch that too.
Today, I complete 6.58 years in the journalism industry.
Is that entirely accurate?
Today, I complete two years as a blogger and 4.58 years as a journalist.
Hold up. Were you ever a journalist?
Today, I complete three years as a writer, four years as an editor and a handful of bylines as a reporter.
Are writing and editing mutually exclus–
Today, I complete four years as an editor, a handful of articles as a reporter, over 500 pieces as a writer and 10 years as a blogger.
Were you ever a journalist?
Today, I complete seven years of making a living writing and explaining.
Flattering yourself, eh?
Today, I complete seven years making a living explaining and opining.
Are we sure this is the best way to judge whatever is going on?
As of today, I’ve spent seven years earning a career that will last at least another five years in the journalism industry.
Just five?
As of today, I’ve spent seven years earning a career that will last at least another three years in the journalism industry.
Cheer up! Are we sure this is the best way to judge?
As of today, I’ve spent seven years doing something that makes me happy.
Have you been happy?
Today, I complete seven years of trying to be happy.
Umm…
Today is seven years since I decided to enter the journalism industry hoping that I’d get to write for a living, and so be happy.
Did you really enter the journalism industry?
Today is seven years since, as the product multiple factors, the chief among which was my caste and class privilege, I was hired by an editor and brought into the journalism industry hoping that I’d get to write for a living, and so be happy.
That’s not what I meant.
Today is seven years since, with the advantage of a caste and class privilege, I decided to enter the journalism industry hoping that I’d get to write for a living, and so be happy, but I’ve never known what journalism is/was.
You got into it without knowing what it was?
Today is seven years since I decided to enter the journalism industry hoping that I’d get to write for a living, and so be happy, without thinking about what I was really getting into.
Is that really accurate?
Today is seven years since I decided to enter the journalism industry hoping that I’d get to write for a living, and so be happy, even as I wanted to figure out what journalism meant in this day and age.
Oh, is that true?
Today, I complete seven years of trying to make sense of journalism.
And where has that got you?
Today, I complete seven years of trying to piece together a picture of what journalism is and where I fit in.
And how successful has that been?
Today, I complete seven years of bending journalism’s opportunities towards my ideas of social justice and personal fulfilment.
And do you think you’ve succeeded?
Today, I complete seven years on what is going to be an infinite journey of bending journalism’s opportunities towards my ideas of social justice and personal fulfilment.
I’m getting the feeling that you’re going to continue on this road. Would that be right?
Today, I begin the eighth year of what is going to be an infinite journey of bending journalism’s opportunities towards my ideas of social justice and personal fulfilment.
Wait. Does that mean you’re a journalist or that you’re an activist?
Today, I fail to see the difference between my personal and my social politics as well as the difference between striving to be civil and reasonable and being an activist in a country household that doesn’t acknowledge the importance of civility or reason.
We’ve gone off track, let’s get back to what we were–
Today, I complete seven years of continuing to understand that to be a journalist means to be a certain kind of good person, a kind of good citizen, and that the only difference between journalists and non-journalists is that we pick up the phone.
But you said you’re not a journalist!
Today, I complete seven years of facing idiots who try hard to misinterpret and/or misunderstand what you’re saying down on a daily basis.
Okay, let’s keep things civil here.
Today, I complete a seven-year-long lesson, that is still unfinished, in understanding that either you have freedom of speech or you preserve the centrality of reason to public debate.
Wow! It’s pretty clear now that you’re really not a journalist at all but a pseudo-secular fellow who’s just going to pick and choose the parts of the job you’re comfortable with and discard the rest.
Today, I complete seven years preparing myself to do what I feel is right and not be guided by labels, or even by popular expectation, because even though an activism for reason, civility and liberalism is going to stick out like a sore thumb in a world that has abandoned these aspirations, it’s important to feel – rather than know – that one is doing/being good.
Why won’t you extend us the same courtesy?
Today, I begin yet another year of focusing on my work, and am thankful for having had seven of them thus far, that will allow me to write, to fight the good fight and still have the luxury of turning away now and then.
You know, many people don’t have that luxury…
Today, I begin yet another year of focusing on my work, and am thankful for having had seven of them thus far, that will allow me to write, to fight the good fight and still have the luxury of turning away now and then as I must.
I see you’ve abandoned all pretensions of being a writer, blogger, editor, etc. Any ideas for what you’re going to call yourself now?
Today, I begin my eighth year as a journalist.
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