Is being profound a necessity or an indulgence?

I'm giving some thought to writing and its purpose. Its purpose can be to share information, to put thoughts into words for review and reflection or to lay a foundation for further thinking. I think I do a lot of writing to share information about myself and how I live. I hesitate to put in too much identifying information but find that some is necessary to eliminate confusion and misunderstanding. Some writing is for documenting events either in depth or simply to note that they occurred. I think a great deal of my writing that is not just news-sharing falls into the review and reflection category.

Some writing that does not appear here ends up in other peoples mailboxes. I read a book by John Lescroart called Betrayal. I didn't like some of his foundational material about the treatment his main character received at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where I used to work. He wrote some very unflattering words about conditions there, and some very misleading words about the capacity and capabilities of the hospital. I decided to write to him to tell him how I felt about those characterizations but also my understanding about the nature of writing for effect. I haven't received a return message, and may never - but, he opened this can of worms and I have decided that he needs to recognize the efforts of staff there in some meaningful way. He earns money from selling those books and some of it needs to go back to the source of his information - or at least the use of WRAMC as a source. I think I wrote to institute guilt, and maybe a little embarrassment. He is a performer as well and has a record label called CrowArt. Maybe he will go sing. I don't think a book signing would go over all that well. I just want him to not forget what he has learned about Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD, especially from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs). In some way I felt that he was exploiting the damage they do to make a good story. It was a pretty good story but fell just a little short of doing what was needed in my opinion. Of course I told him that in my message.

So, writing in this context was for beating my own drum. I'm writing about this now to review and reflect on my actions. Question: Do I wish I hadn't written to him? Definitely NO. I am pleased that I did so because it helped to put to rest my feelings about a small part of what he wrote and remember the book as something that was otherwise a well-crafted and enjoyable read.