It took me a while before I saw the value in blogging. At first I thought it was a little narcissistic. Who thinks that their diary would be interesting to a stranger? You'd have to be a famous writer with eloquent musings before anyone would invest the time to read your every thought. And who was doing it? Eloquent and thoughtful people? No, bloggers were semi-literate, self absorbed and shallow people. But that was early on, and since they've become popular I can see why so many people blog and why so many other people read them. While there is some element of voyeurism in reading a blog, similar to peeking in to living room windows when out for a walk at dusk, there is also something more pure and altruistic than that. Blogs provide a way for a way for different people to see themselves in each other.
Now that more people are doing it, many blogs are evolving into thoughtful and well-written journals. The self-indulgent "diaries" are still out there, but they are far outshone by their lucid and eloquent cousins. In fact, now good bloggers are becoming celebraties. Blogs themed on politics and war are frequently quoted by mainstream media. Entertainment writers uset blogs as they are the "go to" resource for new trends. Literature has found legions of fans who love nothing more to write and read about books in their blogs. And anyone can find out what's going on in Hollywood with a quick check of the blogs whose writers have it made it their career to record the lives of famous people.
But perhaps, the most important blog of all, are the personal blogs of people who simply have something significant to say. Sometimes these people have the misfortune to live in a place divided by war or unrest, sometimes they are from a community whose voice is not frequently heard in the mainstream, or maybe they are people who are simply gifted in their ability to reflect and communicate.
I have a friend I made while in summer camp when I was 16. Outside of camp, we did not socialize at all and when camp ended we eventually lost touch. We used to write letters to each other while we were in university. Each of us would try and outdo the other with a funny, well turned-phrase and newsy letter. But slowly the letters dwindled and we each retreated into our separate lives. More than 20 years later we re-connected, and although we still don't see each other very much, we keep in touch through blogging. Her blogs are hilarious. She renders each experience so richly that in reading about it one feels like she's experiencing herself. It's not that she's just funny. She's insightful too and reading about her experiences brings me closer to her -- it does what all good writing does -- it allows me to see the world from another's eyes. It creates empathy.
Now when I read blogs written by students in Iraq, or a young woman from Mumbai, or an expert in model trains in Oaklahoma, I get a chance to walk in someone else's shoes. And really, that's the only way to understand someone else's point of view.
Never walk alone...
15 years ago
