succour
noun ˈsʌkə (ˈsukuh)
1.
help; relief; aid; assistance.
2.
someone or something that gives help, relief, aid, etc.
verb (t) 3. to help or relieve in
difficulty, need, or distress; aid; assist.
Macquarie Dictionary
The definitions of ‘succour’ are somewhat
unfulfilling for my purpose here. For me, there is something additional to this
notion that implies nourishment; a warmth, an enrichment, a special kind of
soul-succour. Perhaps it is because of the nearness of the word to ‘suckle’
that I feel this connection is evident.
When I was studying ‘the blog’ in a writing unit of
my degree, I had a conversation with someone who asked me whether I would write
one. I said, yes, it was something I had been thinking about, but that I would
need to be certain about my purpose. She thought for a moment and said
something like, ‘I like the way you put that, being certain of your purpose.’
The definitions of the word ‘succour’ do give rise
to the purposes of me writing this blog, particularly following the idea of a
‘gratitude project’. While I would suggest it is not completely a gratitude
project, but a creativity project, an expression project, a writing project,
and adding a purpose beyond enjoying the moment to the art and culture
experiences I frequent.
I had to think for a long while about why and how I
could commit to writing a blog. What could I write about? How could I stick to
a theme or particular topic? Who would read it? Why publish online at all? Part
of the reason for publishing online is to keep me to my task—keep me motivated
to post something.
It may not be regular, it may be unformed at times,
it may be odd, and it may fail. But it is something that has been on my mind for
a long while, so I’m going to give it a go. Wish me luck.
