On Blogging

As I look back at the long and tangled history of this blog, I realize that it’s gone on for very nearly eight years.  Eight years of sometimes random and almost always unnecessary detail about a person that most of you probably don’t even know.  I flatter myself a bit here since to say this implies that more than about the five people in my immediate personal sphere of friendship actually read it.  Google’s statistics on the matter are brief, numerically unimpressive and no doubt completely accurate.  My audience is miniscule and generally entirely quiet.  It brings one quickly to the question of why one would even bother.  Why sit down for two hours a night to write something that five people might read?  

The most important answer to this question really is that my most fervent reader is some future copy of myself and my children.  From time to time I dig about for a random nugget from the past.  The words “bring on the cocaine” echo through my mind from 2005.  (http://tatteredthread.blogspot.com/2005/06/poverty-of-plenty.html)  When I’m feeling particularly in need of inspiration to divest myself of some unnecessary possessions, I re-ask questions from ’08 (http://tatteredthread.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-futility-of-ownership.html).  Even if nobody ever read a word I have to say it would still be satisfying in the extreme to leave this trail of myself weaving sinuously through the internet.  Thing is though… people do read it.  Even total strangers read it.  Google reports quite diligently that people looking for “boss fix powder” or notes on old books I’ve read or “sardinian bronze figures” find some small solace in my words from the past.  The net is a wide and varied place but on many topics is not nearly so deep.  There’s a place for random tidbits here.  It’s hardly the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but it is still a voice.  In my wild imaginings, if I helped or entertained even one person, then my efforts were more than worth it.  I’m confident that I’ve contributed something to the wide world.  Certainly not the cure for cancer, but I’m sure that at some point I’ve made one person think or laugh or ponder a bit longer than they would have otherwise.  

What is saddest to me in this whole topic is that so many voices are silent.  I’ve seen many blogs spring to life, ardently persist for a few months and then slowly fall silent.  Those at least tried to add to the world.  Sadder still are those that never open their mouths to speak at all.  Their wisdom and words are lost forever.  So, in an effort to bring those voices to the foreground I will address the common excuses I hear one by one.  For those of you who are unheard, perhaps you will see some echo of yourself in the words I share below and realize that you too have a story to be told.  

Most commonly I hear the excuse, “I can’t write.  I’m no good at writing.”  Forgive me if I say, simply, that if you’re not good at writing it is merely because you don’t do it enough.  Writing is simply concretized communication and communication is what humanity is all about.  The simple act of speech and sharing of ideas is what separates us from the apes and the iguana.  You can be good at writing but you simply need to do more of it.  It’s said that it takes 10,000 hours to become good at something.  In many walks of life putting words to paper is as foreign and strange a pastime as any you can imagine.  If you belong to a part of society that doesn’t write often or doesn’t feel the need then it is absolutely IMPERITIVE that you make an effort to do so.  The literary history of the world is littered with the words of Kings and scholars.  What is most important and in most short supply is the word of the common people.  Don’t let the affluent speak for you and write your history as well as your own.  

My last point overflowed with zeal, I fear.  For the second I shall proceed more gently.  Next most commonly we have those who are simply afraid.  They fear to put their words to paper in front of the public because of what people might think.  Often these ideas are not explosive in nature.  There is no vast and unsettling profundity lurking that will upset the balance of humanity.  Instead the problem is simply one of self-image.  Much like those who profess no talent for the written word, those lacking confidence also deserve to be heard.  Often those people are the ones whose ideas are most thoroughly composed and well-constructed because they have spent a lifetime going over and over in their minds what exactly they would say if asked the exact right question at the exact right time.  

The primary fear of the second group is that of criticism.  In their well thought-out scenarios, they imagine they will say something that will offend someone else and will be hit upon the head with a large hammer in response.  To this fear I say simply… yup.  You will.  Be prepared, not only to argue your point but also to change your mind if appropriate.  Personally, half my reason for writing anything is to invite discussion and debate.  At times, I say things that are intentionally irrational or excessively vitriolic just in the hopes of inviting some response because ultimately I want people to think about what they’re reading.  I want them to disagree.  I want them to think about why and I want them to express it.  I stand ready to be argued with as should any writer.  The majority of human ideas are blunt weapons only honed to trueness by the test of scrutiny by others.  Your ideas are no different but that doesn’t make them any less worthy of sharing.  

The third group of non-writers is those who say simply, “I don’t have time.”  At this group I simply smirk and shake my head.  With few exceptions we have time for exactly what we make time for.  Television ratings are far too high for me to believe that any American person is too busy to sit down for a few hours to write something meaningful.   Except for single mothers of quadruplets and those working two full-time jobs, Americans are overflowing with free time.  It may not be utterly convenient to write about your life as you sit at your child’s soccer practice but technology has come far enough that you can certainly do it.

To close, the point here is simple.  Everyone within the sound of my keyboard needs to write about themselves and contribute to the vast choir that is the account of the human condition.  Technology has advanced to the point that we can leave for our progeny an account of our lives with unparalleled accuracy from coal miners in West Virginia to software developers in Seattle.  Every voice that is lost is lost forever.  We need to hear you.  There is no reason to be afraid.  Simply be honest and put yourself out there.  If not for humanity in general then for your own children.  What amazing treasure will it be to your children when they are old and gray to have your words and innermost thoughts to peruse and perhaps say to themselves, “Yes, I feel that too…”  Let your words today be your testament and your monument to the future.