A Little UFC Wisdom

I have a confession to make. I am a highlighter. A hopeless lover of highlighting. I have a highlighter on the table by my bed. A highlighter in my purse (OK, there are two). Multiple highlighters in my work bag. And an overly stuffed pencil pouch full of them in my office supply box. 

I love to highlight sentences and phrases that stand out to me when I read. If a line makes me think or makes me appreciate its wording or its wisdom, I highlight it. I very rarely (if ever) make notes. I don't jot down why I highlighted the statement. I simply highlight it and continue reading. 

Occasionally, I pick up an old book and thumb through it, reading only the highlighted passages. I like to see what stood out to me when I read the book and reflect on what I might have been thinking. I used to have a hard time letting go of books, so I was surrounded by a large supply of highlighted food-for-thought. Now that I no longer have a home office/library, I am limited on book space, but I make room and keep what I can. And yes...I still highlight. 

I often wonder (now that I have had to come to terms with letting books go...to what I hope are good homes) what the new reader thinks when they come across my highlighting. Does he or she wonder about the significance of the line? Does he or she get annoyed that I defaced a beloved book (much as I do when I see the mark of a past dogear)?

I am currently reading and rereading Maya Angelou's memoirs. I love her use of words (can't highlight her enough), and I wanted to experience her work in the order in which she wrote them. Aerosol highlight ink might be more efficient for marking her work. I understand that at some point highlighting becomes meaningless if it is overdone, but when I flip back through her work, some pages look more like coloring books than text. She was an artist in her use of words. 

I hope that when I write (currently working on a "book" about my Mema) someone will find my words highlight worthy. I know that it is possible to highlight e-books, but I don't find myself using that tool. And I've certainly never gone back through an electronic text to reread what I highlighted. I guess it's just not the same. But despite the leap to a new world where maybe you leave your highlighter behind (notice I said you...I'm still clinging to mine), there is still a feel of being highlighter worthy. 

Isn't that what a writer wants? To say something that is highlighter worthy.

Now...This highlighter rant was meant to be only my first paragraph to lead into my true topic. I intended to write about a line I heard from a UFC commentator. A line that made me stop and think, "If that were written down, I would highlight it." 

I considered going back and revising my title once my writing took on a direction of its own choosing, but instead, I will make this simple connection and leave the title...maybe as a teaser for next week's post and maybe as a reminder to myself to write about that line.