I’m writing this column to fill space. As an editor, I’m generally dependent on other writers to fill my page, and occasionally I write a column myself to express some burning opinion or to get something off my chest. Today though, it’s about having a big white space on the bottom of page two that needs to contain a bunch of little black letters.

I’m not writing this out of disdain or disgust; quite the contrary in fact. It might be a pain that I wasn’t able to find another writer that I can trust to write, but the truth is I don’t mind it. I will fully admit that writing is a passion of mine no matter what the reason.

It occurred to me that this newspaper page is a lot like each of our lives. Sometimes we all have some empty white space to fill.

Like I said, I don’t mind filling this empty space because I’m doing it with something that I enjoy. I suppose I’m lucky in that regard. After all, I know that when it comes to the empty spaces, many people don’t have something they can fill it with. Not everyone has a passion for something or someone that can pick him or her up when that person feels empty inside.

Sometimes we turn to alcohol to fill the void. Other times we turn to, shall we say, brief relationships. Some people turn to drugs or other destructive behavior.

The point is that no matter what, all of us have gone and will go through a time where we have a rough spot in our lives.

What I believe is important to help get us through that is a passion that we can turn to in order to take our minds off of what troubles us.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m guilty of letting the tough times get the best of me more than once. I’ve had my nights that I can’t remember to say the least, and lets face it, who hasn’t done things that they’re not proud of.

It happens to all of us, and even though it might not happen that often, it would be silly to think that just because it happened in the past or it rarely happens, that it’s not harmful to who we are.

I’m not saying that having a good time is bad, but ultimately I don’t believe that you can simply have a good time to avoid having a bad time.

Unless your heart and mind are in it, you’re doing nothing more than lying to yourself.

This is why I believe that it’s important that each of us develop a passion in something or someone so that we always have something to turn to when life simply isn’t so good.

Each of us needs a constant, reliable, and healthy thing that will be there for us when we have nowhere else to go.

I have no advice as to what that thing may be.

My passion for writing today got me out of a hot spot when I had white space on my page, but even I haven’t fully figured out what I have to turn to when times are tough. It’s a project that takes each of us a different amount of time to figure out.

With that said though, I don’t think that that makes me incorrect or misguided. The truth of the matter is that no matter what, you have to have something to turn to when your life goes through a whole bunch of empty white space.

In short, what will you write to fill it?