Monday, July 27, 2009

Why blog?

A very cool cat recently tweeted the query, why blog? I had to think for a moment about what draws me to this medium. It is the same thing that has drawn me to years of journaling, and what now draws me to things likeTwitter, Facebook, and Blogger. It is my life, and my story. Life is all about stories. Everything we do, buy, give, take, learn, share, or swallow whole has a story. And somewhere in each of us is the the human desire not only to read stories, but to share our own.
Once upon a time, we had only two options. Gather people around you by the campfire, or write a book for most hopeful mass publishing. How far those stories would go, who would be affected by them, who might respond to them on some very personal level, was anyone's guess and we could never know. But that has changed. Time and space unbounded, technology at the ready, the world waiting.....we look for stories. We look for them like we've never looked for them before.
I want to know who lives across the globe, who lives across the country, and who lives the next town over. I want to know what we have in common and how we are different. I want to know what we can learn from each other. And I want to learn now. I want to be part of this world, and not just riding along for a hundred years or so until my quarter is done and the horse stops. I want to live in this world. And to do that, I have to put myself out there. I want to get better, at being a loving mom, friend, teacher, learner, wife, sister and daughter. And to do that, I have to put myself out there. I want to save this world, and the people in it. And to do that, I have to put myself out there.
So I will talk, and share, and ask questions. I will connect to people so that I can find kindred spirits who want the same. I will speak, and speak, and speak. And I will hope that every once in a while a voice will respond in kind, from somewhere heretofore quiet, and a new community will begin.
Who's in?