A day without Sherlock Holmes.

I like to write a little something about Sherlock Holmes every day I can.

It might not be the best quality stuff -- one draft brain dumps aren't winning any prizes most days. But it's good to run Holmes through the brain and see what he's up to, providing a little relaxation and order to the universe. And it gives Sherlockians who don't take offense too lightly a reason to take a break with for a few minutes on blog days. Or something to get stirred up about, if they do take offense and are looking for such a Sherlockian irritant.

And then there are days when Sherlock Holmes goes away and it's impossible to write about him.

More serious problems take center stage in the not-always-1895 world, and Holmes must remain backstage behind the curtain.

When reality gets very real, we don't need a larger-than-life, over-the-top, fictional character to pontificate about the way the world should be. (Not that Sherlock does, but I'm not really talking about him now, am I?)

We need to deal with the world we are presented with, each in our own personal fashion, to the best of our own skill set. Reach out where we can. Lend an ear to those near us as needed. Maybe even just care a little more about other people's problems, even if they're not the headline. Every good and unselfish thing we do contributes to the overall health of the world around us, even if it might not directly affect a tragedy far away.

When the horrific happens, when a single malfunctioning mess of a human being makes our entire race look like monsters, it's the time we have to be a little better than we might otherwise be. To raise our game, not to where others think it should be, but to where our owns hearts tell us it needs to be.

We can't depend upon Sherlock Holmes to show us what a better human being looks like on some days -- some days, we have to show ourselves what a better human being looks like.

And we'll get back to Mr. Holmes eventually.

So I'm not writing about Mr. Sherlock Holmes today. And I wish you all the best as we finish out this day and move on to the next. Take care and give hugs where possible.