Recently, I’ve seen a lot of people hate on writing for Odyssey, and truthfully I just don’t understand where this hate comes from. Why do people feel the need to bash on a website where college kids go to express themselves? I have no idea. Don’t you haters have something more important to whine about? I probably won't ever understand why people feel the need to belittle something that means so much to other people. Odyssey is more to me than just a silly little website, and after reading all these hateful and negative comments I feel the need to stick up for Odyssey and share why I chose to write for Odyssey.
For a creative outlet
I love the fact that I get to just sit down sometimes and write. I can write about my thoughts or write about the TV show that I’m watching, but I just get to sit there and have my voice be heard. Whatever the topic may be, I’m not limited; there are endless possibilities for me to express myself. At Odyssey, the world is my oyster, and It’s amazing to have the freedom to do whatever I want with a blank sheet of paper.
To improve myself as a writer
I’ve written tons of papers for all my English classes, and I am able to produce a nice paper, but none of the topics actually allowed me to be creative and imaginative while producing a well-written piece of writing. Having an article due once a week made me more aware of my writing and made me more careful in the way that I write. Thanks to Odyssey I’ve been able to think outside the box, and become a more polished writer. Odyssey also made me more confident about my writing. Having an article go out on social media for everyone to see is scary, but writing through Odyssey helped me gain confidence in my writing and made me realize that if I get two shares or 2,000—my writing does matter to someone. Thanks to Odyssey, I've gained so much experience in writing and I've had fun while doing it.
To uplift people
This is the most important reason why I write for Odyssey. Before I started writing for Odyssey I would always scroll past articles on Facebook and reading them always made my day. If they were serious, they gave me something to think about and would often actually inspire me or provoke some sort of thought in my mind. Sometimes they were funny and filled with a bunch of GIF’s, and they would always make my smile and give me a good laugh. My main goal when writing an article is to inspire people, to provoke a thought with someone, to give people a good laugh with their friends, or just to simply make a person smile. If I am going to spend time writing an article, I want it to have a positive impact on someone’s day.
I hope there is an Odyssey hater reading this and I hope you understand why Odyssey means so much to other people. I know I’m not just speaking for myself when I say that I write these articles to help myself, and to brighten up other people’s timelines. I don’t write for the amusement of a hater who is going to share it and say “yet another ignorant Odyssey article,” or “I am so sick of Odyssey articles.” Just because you don’t agree with someone else’s opinion doesn’t mean that they don’t have a right to share it. I hope by reading this you understand that we are just college kids who love writing, and your negative words do nothing for anyone. So to all the people who comment or share our articles and feel the need to say negative words about them, please remember this, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Thank you to all the Odyssey writers who continue to write awesome articles while sharing their beliefs. Never change.
