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The Opinionated Writer..is there other kind?

Non-fiction and fiction make different demands on the writer. One takes spine, the other -heart. There is no character to hide behind in non-fiction. It is the writer speaking in active voice and risks being wrong, and that is an eternal danger. 

The words you write are etched in time for eternal ridicule, hatred or rarely- adulation. You cannot and must not deny having written them. Even if wrong, you hold on to them like a wayward child of a loving father who is blinded by paternal love. It is worse, you cannot disown them. When you find yourself wrong, you have to bring to life another child of yours as a counter-point. 

You can't disown and simply walk away. You can't claim never having  written it , you can't claim mis-interpretation. You have to pay for your words with sadness and shame. You are a writer, not a politician. You are a step away from sainthood. You have chosen for hard life and hard punishments in exchange of a right to speak out truth as you see it. In fiction, a writer can put forth opposing views as character's voice. But then, to be honest, one of them will be proven wrong and writer will be blamed for the wrong one. Ah, the difficult life of a writer..

"No comment" isn't an option for you. You always have an opinion, and the pen you hold proclaims you inability to hold that opinion within. You are setting yourself up for publicly being wrong, when you decide to write. That is the downside. The upside is that sometimes you will be right. Not immediately, not right after you have written. Maybe, in a while, maybe, after you are dead, but you don't write to be proven to be right, you write for you think it's right. You write your truth, and incite others to state their.  You set yourself for a debate, you trust your words, but you want them to be challenged. This play of thought, this acrobat of words keep you amused. 

You smile as you are stoned, for that proves you are read. Isn't that why you write? To be read, by the world at large, or sometimes by yourself through a non-writer's eyes. You argue with yourself on paper, for you aren't convinced on either side of the argument. Your opinion isn't clear to yourself, and you can't bear it, not to have an opinion. You must discover it, polish it and present it to the world to be mocked, spit at, and at times , at very rare occasions to be idolized.   
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