Blogging

I'll be honest with you...wait nobody is reading this...I'll be honest with myself - blogging is an odd thing. Even the word itself still sometimes makes me thing of a word that an Englishman would use as a profanity. " You blogging idiot - learn how to drive!" You know, something of that nature. Now I appreciate blogs for their ability to help us keep updated across great distances at times, but like much of our technology, it seems that they sometimes only serve to keep us more disconnected.

An example: I read a couple of blogs regularly. My cousin's family is in Africa right now and reading their blog allows me to stay up to date on what things are happening in their lives in a way that I would not be able to otherwise. On the other hand, I regularly read the blog of a friend that lives in the same town as me. By reading his blog, it gives me the feeling that I know him better and that I am somehow connected to him. The reality, though, is that it can also give me an excuse to not call him and get together with him. By reading a blog, I can feel a false sense of connectedness with another person that may actually cause me to neglect the relationship or at least not pursue face to face interaction. It is crazy that this illusion of connectedness actually can increase our loneliness!

There is just something special, powerful, and absolutely essential about actually talking with others face to face. I know, it is ironic and maybe even hypocritical that I am writing all this on my own blog, but I guess I just take solace in the fact that I have no intention of connecting to others through this entry. The truth is, this is a record of my thoughts and feelings. Mostly this is something for me - and maybe for my family in the future. Some people journal - I blog. It comes down to practicality - I can't write nearly as fast as I type and if I try, I can't read my own handwriting.

So there, I have said it - blogs are a curious thing...