On Blogging

There are some days when having a blog can feel like a heavy burden. You want to say something profound or witty (or both). It needs to be inspirational, or at least controversial. Nobody should blog about things that don't matter. (Who would want to read that?)

The pressure is greater if you've read other people's blogs. A pastor whom I think highly of has a blog ... but he hasn't update it in about a year! (I think that's dreadful.) I was talking to a marketing expert the week before last about blogging. She argued that updating a blog on a monthly basis would be sufficient to keep it fresh and relevant. (I did not share her point of view.) There's got to be a point for bloggers somewhere between every day and every year. How often do I need to blog to be "fresh and relevant?"

Then there are those people whose blogs I read and I wonder why they blog. They'll blog about their cat. They'll blog about their toes. They'll blog about rainbows. Some of them will blog about the day they've had. In some cases, that's interesting. But not if they don't do it often. I have another friend who's living in China. He started a blog so we could all share in the experience with him. I don't think he's blogged on it since March of last year. (Clearly his blog motivation is not working!)

I think about the fact that blogs are likely to outlast me. I don't know how many people read my blog. I don't know who the people that read my blog are. And I realize this blog could be in cyberspace long after I'm dead. (Who would know?) Sometimes I think about writing a blog that I could have my wife (or the executor of my estate) post for me after I'm dead. It could be sort of a good-bye message to the world. But when I sit down to write, despite my best intentions ... it sounds creepy.

Sometimes I'd like to blog about all the things I think about. But that seems like too much. Or it seems a little scandalous. Or it seems boring. Or maybe it would selfish and proud. (I would never want to be that!) I've also considered blogging about the day I've had. To be honest, I'm not sure I want everyone to know about the day I've had. They might be tempted to pity me --- or think I deserve what I got. Either way, I don't think there'd be merit in everyone knowing about me day.

Can we use a blog to increase the depth of our friendship? Can we use it to increase the sphere of our influence? Could we use a blog to build new friendships (or at least impress strangers)? Or is blogging just relegated to sharing a bit of ourselves ... and our wisdom with the world in general? (Somehow I suspect it may be the latter.)

Blogspot, who hosts this blog, often "invites" me to try and monetize my blog. That is definitely not one of the motives I've had. Should it be? I've browsed a lot of other blogs and didn't see much "monetizing" going on. I wonder how many people actually endeavor to make money by blogging. Moreover, I wonder if it would change the perspective of their readers.

I guess I'll continue blogging. I'll look to the Lord to lead my thinking. With any luck, He'll give me some thoughts that will be worth blogging about. Politics, religion, relationships, money, and several other subjects are all areas where I find myself doing a lot of thinking. As I continue my own journey through God's Word (i.e., reading the Bible) I acquire new filters to run that thinking through. Stay tuned and we'll see what kind of blogging that thinking and those ever-changing filters can produce!

Slow Down World

Did it ever occur to you that the world moves too fast? I mean too fast for human comprehension. Think about all of the things going on in this world. Most of them, if we're honest, look like problems. Starvation, poverty, pollution, wars, natural disasters, disease, economic problems. The list just goes on and on.

I'd really like to think about all of it. My honest desire is to fully process my thinking in all of these areas. You know --- give each situation and dilemma its "day in court" in my mind, so to speak. Perhaps if each thing could individually be thought out, we would have more brilliant solutions to these situations and circumstances that look so much like problems. But I find there are too many of them, and they come way to fast for me to handle them. My brain just doesn't have the compute capacity to process all these inputs in such short periods of time.

I sense that most people have this same problem. Maybe they wish for more time to think about things. But I suspect that many of us just choose not to think about them. Perhaps we figure ignorance is bliss. Or maybe we conclude that there's nothing we can do, so why waste time thinking about it. (Would that really be a waste of time?)

To be sure, there are situations and dilemmas and circumstances in the world today which man can do little about. Tsunami's and earthquakes might come to mind. Drought is a good one. It seems to be totally in the hands of God - leaving mankind with no responsibility whatsoever. Is that really accurate? Are we truly helpless when it comes to tsunami's and earthquakes and droughts? Or is it possible that we've been given the intelligence to do something --- and we just choose not to do it?

Let's look at tsunami disasters. They've been going on since the recording of time. Yet millions upon millions of people live in low-lying coastal areas that are sure to be wiped out by them. I know, we built cities near water because of transportation. But do we not have the wherewithal to withdraw those cities now --- and just don't think it's worth it? Do we not have the capacity to build tsunami-proof buildings now --- and just don't think it would be too expensive?

Earthquakes are another. I was in northern California a few years ago, in a business meeting on a high floor in a skyscraper. An earthquake hit. The building swayed and we could hear the elevators banging against the shafts. It was unnerving. But the building was undamaged. Life resumed within minutes. Couldn't we build all buildings that way? Are we not smart enough to build infrastructure to withstand earthquakes --- or do we just not think it's cost-justified?

It seems to me that mankind takes risks, based on the calculation of cost and probability. Sometimes those risks don't pay off. But I suspect that sometimes our ignorance overwhelms the situation. I'd like to see more thought given to the cost of drought --- and the cost of addressing it with technology and strategy. I'd like to see more consideration given to earthquakes and hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Perhaps I have more faith in mankind than I should. But I believe we probably have the collective intelligence to solve way more of the worlds problems than we do. I'm just not smart enough to do it by myself!