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The Battle to Keep Writing By Msgr. George G. Higgins The Yard Stick August 14, 2000  The late Louis Kronenberger, an eminent American literary critic, said some sobering things about columns and columnists in his memoirs, published in 1970. At one point in his long career, Kronenberger was invited to write a weekly column for P.M., a liberal New York daily which flourished after a fashion for a couple of years and then abruptly went out of business. Kronenberger jumped at the invitation to write the column, but quickly tired of it. After six months he gave it up because it was "beginning to be a chore."  In my case it became a chore in less than six months, but the kind of chore with its own rewards, not the least of which is that a columnist is almost compelled, despite himself, to do a little more serious reading than he might otherwise be prompted to do. Not that reading doth a columnist make, but, other things being equal, reading helps to prime the pump and to keep the well from going dry.  I first came across the words I quoted from Kronenberger as I was rounding out my 25th year as a columnist for National Catholic News Service (today known simply as Catholic News Service). At first I was tempted to call it quits -- approximately 24 and one-half years too late if Kronenberger's norm was the rule of thumb. But time marches on, and I now unexpectedly face a problem which again tempts me to call it quits. Macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease, has impaired my vision severely, making it extremely difficult for me to do serious reading.  For this reason I decided recently to dispose of most of the books in my personal library, retaining only a limited number of basic texts and reference works. Fortunately, I am still able to read newspapers and a variety of magazines. And, by dint of a little extra effort, I can make my way through the occasional book which pertains directly to subjects I am dealing with in the column.  A few days after my books were boxed for delivery to The Catholic University of America library, I happened to read a lengthy article/review by a Stanford University scholar of several recent volumes on the joys of reading and the future of books. The review's subtitle was "Elegies for the Book." I am still in the elegiac mood as I look wistfully at my study's denuded bookshelves. A voracious reader during my entire adult life, I feel dispirited at the thought that I never again will be able to indulge in what, for better or worse, became a veritable passion on my part.  Audio books are, of course, a godsend to people with failing eyesight, but I have found them poor substitutes for the real thing. Moreover, since alas I am computer illiterate (partly due to laziness but mainly, I prefer to think, to my failing eyesight), I don't have access to the Internet's fabled wonders. To make matters worse, a leading medical scientist just concluded that one of the best ways to avoid Alzheimer's disease is to "read, read, read."  Like the Stanford professor, I mourn the predicted passing of books as we have come to know them. Like the same Stanford professor, however, I dread becoming a cranky anti-technological Luddite in the wake of incredible changes brought by the wizardry of digital technology. But enough about the future of books and my failing eyesight. Despite it all, I plan to stay on the job until further notice. So it's time to get back to work and to start drafting my next column.   Papal Social Encyclicals   Other Catholic Social Teachings General Articles of Interest  Catholic Worker Connection Msgr. George Higgins  Home Page E-Mail: Fr. Sinclair Oubre