I was trying to explain about blogging to a friend who is new to the computer. She wanted to know why I would air my personal thoughts on a public venue. A friend who is a retired librarian says that the type of blog I write is rather like Samuel Pepys Diary, a recitation of the activities in my life. The first friend wonders why anyone would visit to read a recap of my days. I couldn't find a way to explain it to her satisfaction.
A friend from my chatting days sent me a wonderful e-mail about friendship. One of the lines in that e-mail was "Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people." I've been writing about events, but now I've slipped to writing about people!
God......I'm only average, and very confused.
Seriously....I believe that I blog because of the sense of community that it brings. Right now, I tend to stay close to home. I'm so accustomed to caring for my mother that I have opted to keep in touch with friends electronically, rather than in person. I find all sorts of new ideas, and answers to questions in the blogs I visit, and the variety in those blogs is helping to keep me curious about life. Eventually, I will sign up for classes again, and participate in charitable activities, and perhaps travel, but for now, you are all my window on the world. I'll work on that "average" problem. *G*
Comments (8)
Glad to oblige. *G*
I'd like to think I fit into the great minds category, however like you I fall in the average category. My ideas would scare people away if I started blogging about them. My lastest simple minded episode would include todays post. lol
Posted by janet | January 28, 2007 9:16 PM
Posted on January 28, 2007 21:16
You are hardly average Buffy. I feel very much like you do about blogging. The community....an informed, interesting, humorous, intelligent, generous and compassionate blend of people that you don't find everywhere.
I have a couple of friends who don't understand blogging and ask me all the time why do I do it.... what I get out of it? But when they occasionally visit, they always tell me how much they love my posts. I tell them...you've just answered your own question.
Posted by Joy | January 29, 2007 1:00 AM
Posted on January 29, 2007 01:00
Nice perspective, Buffy. Especially defining us as 'a community'. In my own community, I enjoy visiting friend's to see how they're doing. So I don't think there's much to be questioned about blogging. Like real life, it's making new friends and taking time to see how they're doing. Strangers pop in as well but I've encountered more scary ones in real life than I have in this community. Curious to know, is your friend going to start a blog? We'd be happy to have her join 'the community'.
Posted by Roberta S | January 29, 2007 4:04 PM
Posted on January 29, 2007 16:04
Glad to be a window...but you better like the occasional cow pattie!
Posted by Cowtown Pattie | January 29, 2007 8:50 PM
Posted on January 29, 2007 20:50
Whew......maybe I'll get nose plugs to accesorize my Texas outfits! lol
Roberta, I doubt seriously that my friend will take up blogging, but should she, I'll encourage her to meet my circle of friends. I know you'll all welcome her.
Joy, I try to encourage people who are really skeptical to visit my blog, and those to which I link. Sometimes we get lucky and have a convert, and other times they just shake their heads and walk away. I think to myself, "Their loss."
Janet, I'll be over to visit. I don't think you should censor your thoughts. Just go ahead and say what you're thinking!
Posted by buffy | January 30, 2007 12:09 AM
Posted on January 30, 2007 00:09
I don't even tell people about blogging (although I told family since that is the reason I started). Of course we don't know many people, outside work, that actually own a computer much less get on the internet.
Thanks for letting me know how average I am - LOL.
Posted by bogie | January 30, 2007 4:11 AM
Posted on January 30, 2007 04:11
Bogie.....somehow I think that saying needs to be tweaked, wouldn't you agree?? I don't think of you as average at all!
How interesting that computer usage is not as great where you live. I'd think there would be more need for it in NH than here in the suburbs of Chicago!
Posted by buffy | January 30, 2007 4:54 PM
Posted on January 30, 2007 16:54
Buffy, you've certainly raised questions in my mind. I like to think that any action that I take I have a real understanding of why I am doing it and what is my preferred outcome. However I've never really known why I set up my blog. Yes, it's partially because of the community - it's nice to reach out to others and to communicate that way. But in addition my Blog acts both as a means of recording some things in my life and a means of expressing myself and posting pictures I take. I also have a cousin who reads my Blog to find out what my family is up to. I suppose that in some ways I also treat the blog as a diary - one that I don't mind others reading.
The Internet is a wonderful new way to meet people and to make connections. Blogs are an excellent way to show people who you are and what is important to you. And then you can make connections with other like-minded souls. And what's wrong with that?
Posted by Adele | January 31, 2007 3:59 AM
Posted on January 31, 2007 03:59