The Truth About Blogs

Blogs are a strange revolution in communication. They demand honesty and voice. They are a thoughtful diary, and the audience can tell if a blog is honest or not.

The success of blogging over traditional media is that people enjoy the personal nature of them. They want to hear a human.

Then again, when you write human things, you sound human. You miss points or are emotional about one thing or the other.

I think Psalms was a little like a blog. Psalms 3:7 says, "7 Arise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked."

Was the Psalmist advocating or requesting physical violence? What good would breaking teeth do? Maybe the Psalmist should have thought of what he was going to write before he wrote it.

I've encountered that same scrutiny with the blog. I'm NOT a Psalmist. I am just writing down thoughts and people are reading them. I have not asked anyone to read them and I don't honestly care if people do. For some people, this blog has been a blessing. I expect that my thoughts at times will create disagreement or dissension, but that's the nature of thoughts.

So...if I wanted to start a campaign against a teacher, or a doctor, hospital, or any entity, I would name that teacher doctor or entity and begin a focused campaign against them. My blog isn't a campaign against anyone.

But I get comments like this one:

"Maybe the teacher would be more considerate if you talked to her first, rather than broadcasting your issue on the internet...."

All I can say is: this comment is silliness.

1. I'm not broadcasting. Someone has to physically put an internet address in their browser to get here. If anything, I'm narrowcasting. I'm not ABC. I'm not CNN. I'm a guy writing a blog.

A. And if I wanted to make a stink on my blog, I guess I could. I could name the teacher's name, name the teacher's phone or email, name the high school, explain the class, scan and show you the homework. I could give you her home phone. I could provide pictures of the teacher in case you see her on the street. I could change the name of the blog to "Teacher X - A Threat To Humanity" and make googling her name populated with awful links.

2. I was writing about the issue. I was writing about the feeling. The exhausting feeling of having to tell everyone a story that makes me tired, let alone the tiring nature of having to retell it. With Charter Communications, I had to tell over 13 people that my wife and daughter were in the ICU.

3. I'm tired. If I can sum up the entry in question, this entry, my silence over the weekend...here you go: I'm tired.

I'm tired. I'm tired.

I'm tired and there is no end in sight. I'm tired of my children being everywhere, not seeing them. I'm tired of a fractured home. Tired of trying to communicate with Jen by phone or messenger because of of the communication challenges. I'm tired and so when I see comments like this:

what about those little boys...i bet they miss their mama and baby sister? i am praying all your kids know they are specially loved by God! and that we are praying for them too

I just throw frustrated hands in the air. Is the commenter wondering about my boys or criticizing my entry because it didn't mention them?

Of course I miss my boys. Of course I'm grateful for their grandma and grandpa who is going above and beyond anything imagined to care for them and make sure they feel safe and loved. For their sacrifice, I owe them a debt I know I'll never be able to repay. But, my boys. Of course they're suffering a strange life.

I wrote an entry about the oldest three kids because their life is so bent out of shape right now. That was not meant to contrast their life versus their brothers' lives. It was a feeling, a peek inside me...a ... blog entry!

I know...if you're blogging you have to have a hide of steel. I have to learn to let comments be comments. The blog is working if you all are moved to write back. It's blogging in its purest form.

But comments evoke feelings too. Which create...more blog entries!