Thanks to Fire Dog Lake and the advent of Joe Klein's blog, I am given pause to reflect on this rather strange thing I do a couple hours each day called "blogging". The whole post linked needs to be read because it is almost eerily accurate in its descirption of what bloggers do and how they do it.
I started blogging last spring, and I really wasn't sure what I was doing, or what the whole blog thing was about. In the months since then, I have decided not to worry so much about these fundamental questions - what some philosophers call first principles - and have concentrated on making sure what I put down is coherent, honest, truthful to whatever facts I may wish to relate, and well-written (I suppose this last goes along with the desire for coherence, but not necessarily; one can be a bad writer but coherent, or a good writer and incoherent; just read James Joyce).
It is a strange thing, this sitting down each day, wondering what in the world is going on, what I think of it, and how to put those thoughts into some kind of structure that makes sense to others, at least a little bit. I worry less about the actual content of this blog - I write about what interests and fascinates me; what I enjoy; what I know about - than I used to, although there are times I know I need to make sure I stick to my own self-imposed guidelines (no personal attacks; as little profanity as possible; take comments and criticisms seriously) because I find myself wanting to rant rather than offer someething a bit more thoughtful.
I have had some really good exchanges here, with secular lefties who don't like or don't understand my faith commitments and with right-wingers who don't understand or don't like my political commitments. I doubt we have changed each other's minds, but we have taken a step toward the goal I set for myself when I began - communication with others, an honest exhange of views. I may not have been moved to seriously change my mind, but I have been forced to think through what I think and believe more thoroughly and honestly than I might otherwise have done. The fact that I recognize my own limits and have no illusions about my own wisdom and admit quickly my own fallibility adds to the possibilities here. I am open to the fact that I might actually be wrong, and hope to learn from others who have more wisdom, knowledge, understanding, insight, and a different point of view. I offer my views forthrightly and without hesitation; I also admit freely that my views may be as wrong as snow in July or Tony Snow each and every day at a press briefing.
There are of course, costs to this whole blogging thing. This is time spent away from my wife and children (although I try to limit that as much as possible). I cannot do as much as I want because I have to eat, sleep, I work forty hours a week, I have a house to help keep clean, laundry to do, shopping to get done, books to read, time I spend with friends. In other words, I have a life, and living is always about compromise. In short, I blog because I love it. I have no illusions about the impact this tiny blog with one or two hits a day (at most) has on our national dialogue. On the other hand, I don't care if I have a huge blog or not. I do this out of love - love for writing, love for participation in our society, love for America, and love for the fun of doing something I enjoy.
I open myself each and everyday to the public, and it is a risky thing to do. I never know who might try to shout me down, shut me down, take me down, or ignore me. I never know who is reading and not commenting, either out of anger, confusion, or simple apathy. I throw these little misives of mine out into the world in the hopes that someone somewhere might find what I have to say interesting, informative, insulting, enraging, mortifying, or ridiculous - and I keep doing it regardless of how many people stop by and say "Hi", and I will continue to do so as long as I can.
