The Sage

This Pope is new to the Internet and Facebook. In particular, he doesn’t understand the ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on a Facebook page.

I’m unsure when the blog is posted how many actually receive it. Of those who get it, how many actually read it let alone “get it”? I understand few people actually heard of me. So why should they read what I have to say? Or don’t they read it for other reasons? As far as emogis go, I get little pleasure from a “heart” or a “tearful face” or a “laughing face”.

He had sought counsel among the denizens of a local coffee shop and was informed (told firmly) not to read too deeply into ‘likes’. Most likely, Facebook’s inimitable sign of approval, with or without emogi, is just a superficial (very superficial) nod of appreciation. Like, say, someone telling you to “have a nice day” kind of superficial. Another person called the ‘like’ click a mechanical response, well beneath the conscious level of thought. Like, say, pre-civilization consciousness.

One of the coffee house sages silenced the room – that is, he dismissed the previous comments as half-assed assessments of Facebook reality – and proclaimed a Truth (capital T) that the Pope would probably not want to hear. This sage even feared that the Pope might fall into a deep depression when he heard the Truth.

I insisted that I could handle it.

It was like this. Nobody really reads anymore. By “nobody”, the sage was specific: the billion or more on Facebook. This means that they can only read spurts of words for shorter and shorter periods of time. They want short sentences and paragraphs. Illustrations are especially welcome.

“Can they get through my blogs?”

“How long are they?”

“Around six hundred words.” 

He realized that the sage did not read his stuff.

“Unlikely. Especially if you try to sustain a thought or idea through the entire blog.”

“What if I put them in a book?”

“The best you can hope for. People will buy it with the ‘intention’ of reading it. A few might get through a few chapters and maybe like them (in a non-Facebook way) and read a few more. Most will stash it in a book shelf in case you happen to be in their houses.”

Pope Sixtus was severely depressed. Was it worth putting the blog into book form or even continuing it?

“Your Holiness might try making a chapbook. A mini-book. Definitely short enough to be read. Even better if you could turn your words to poetry.”

“I’m not the poetic type.”

“You don’t have to be. Just put them into ‘poetry form’!”

He partly took the sage’s advice.