Why Blog?
About a month ago on a technical (i.e. geeky) mailing list to which I subscribe, a member of the list asked everyone who was blogging. Only two responses (including one by the person who made the original query) from the group of a couple hundred participants trickled in. I had long thought that I should start my own blog, but I guess it wasn't until someone posed an informal "reckoning" that I actually felt pressed into taking action on my long procrastinated wish.

My initial exposure to blogging came a couple of years ago while searching the internet looking for rational political voices (this was during the run up to President Bush's Iraq misadventure). I found numerous anti-war liberal blogs to be sure, but I also found several anti-war libertarian blogs which were more my cup-of-tea. Taken together (courtesy of the wonders of RSS), I soon had a vast array of material to read, ponder, and incorporate into my own personal political point of view. I'm just starting to discover the same kind of network (albeit much smaller) exists among my fellow LDS members, for group discussion about the finer points of LDS doctrine.

So... why do I blog? Well, there are a continuum of reasons that have flowed in and out of my feeble brain over the past few months that finally pushed me to the tipping point of starting my own blog, I'll discretize a few here and reserve the right to add more later. ;)

1. I enjoy writing. I don't pretend to be a good writer, but I like to write. When I write my thoughts down about a subject, it requires that I formulate the random musings in my mind into (at least) a somewhat coherent manner. And like physical exercise, writing is hard work... but the accomplishment I feel after I am done is extremely rewarding. And if I can handle critical review of my writing (and the thoughts behind that writing), hopefully I can get a little smarter too.

2. I enjoy cooking. I love to cook, something my mother encouraged in me since I was a wee lad. When I cook however, I rarely follow a published recipe word for word. Typically, I'll use several recipes as a general guide, but then improvise quite heavily. Unfortunately, many of these improvisations are long forgotten (see below... "My memory is very poor"). A blog is perfectly suited as a repository for my favorite recipes. I can eliminate my reliance on my poor memory, quickly search my recipe archive, and eliminate all the on-paper recipe transcriptions stuffed throughout the kitchen cabinents and recipe books.

3. To provide context. I am currently engaged in the activity of updating our family's on-line photo journals. Unfortunately, photos (and even videos) provide very little by way of the context of events in which they were taken. What events led up to the specific moment that was captured? How did I feel when the photo (or video) was taken? Without some kind of written record, I'm afraid that the context is lost to the ether. Perhaps this reason for blogging is indistinguishable from the next one...

4. My memory is very poor. When I was in high school, I was a member of the swim team. One day while I was running along the side of the pool, my feet slipped out from underneath me and I fell, landing on the back of my head first (lesson learned: just like the lifeguards often warn, don't run on a wet swim deck). The resulting gash in the back of my head required some 10 or so stitches (iirc) and a drain to reduce the swelling. My wife theorizes that this event did some permanent damage to my brain that prevents me from making lasting memories. Well, regardless of whether or not Kristy's theory is true, my memory is undeniably bad. If I don't write something down, specifically something like my own thoughts and feelings to which only myself is privy, then there won't be any other cues to trigger that memory at a future date.

5. To bridge geographic isolation. We do not live close to either set of Berkeley's and Eliana's grandparents nor do we live close to 18 of their 24 aunts/uncles. Hopefully, the pictures I share and the experiences I document will help bridge our relative geographic isolation from (the majority of) our extended families.

6. I speak. You listen. Where else could I get my own personal soapbox if not for my on-line blog?

7. To solicit advice and recommendations. If I encounter a problem or some difficulty and am at a loss as to how to proceed, I can document my quandry and seek out advice and recommendations from the small community of friends and family that read my blog. That is the genius of this here internet thing-a-ma-jig, it is a powerful communication and collaboration medium where information is easily and freely exchanged.

8. To share advice and recommendations. Doesn't everyone want to know how I do things? What I like and prefer? Doesn't everyone want to be just like me?! He he. But seriously, just as I receive helpful responses posted to my blog from others, hopefully I can share something that will be useful to someone else.

9. For my kids. Kristy has said her greatest fear is that of losing me (i.e. unexpected death). She is very supportive of my efforts at blogging, because as she says - "If something every happens to [me], the kids have a record about how much their Dad loved them."

10. To heed the counsel of modern-day LDS prophets. Possibly the most often ignored exhortations by modern LDS Church leadership are also the seemingly most mundane: doing your home teaching, keeping a year's food storage, or journal writing. If you are LDS (like me), and you need one last reason (or just one reason) to start your own blog (and you are averse to pen and paper), then perhaps the repeated suggestion by LDS Church leadership to keep your own personal journal is just such a reason. I like what President Kimball says (from link above):

    Your private journal should record the way you face up to challenges that beset you. Do not suppose life changes so much that your experiences will not be interesting to your posterity. Experiences of work, relations with people, and an awareness of the rightness and wrongness of actions will always be relevant. Your journal, like most others, will tell of problems as old as the world and how you dealt with them.

    Your journal should contain your true self rather than a picture of you when you are "made up" for a public performance. There is a temptation to paint one's virtues in rich color and whitewash the vices, but there is also the opposite pitfall of accentuating the negative. Personally I have little respect for anyone who delves into the ugly phases of the life he is portraying, whether it be his own or another's. The truth should be told, but we should not emphasize the negative. Even a long life full of inspiring experiences can be brought to the dust by one ugly story. Why dwell on that one ugly truth about someone whose life has been largely circumspect?

    Your journal is your autobiography, so it should be kept carefully. You are unique, and there may be incidents in your experience that are more noble and praiseworthy in their way than those recorded in any other life.

    What could you do better for your children and your children's children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved? Some of what you write may be humdrum dates and places, but there will also be rich passages that will be quoted by your posterity.

(Update Wed Jun 22 22:04:26 PDT 2005 // added soapbox)
(Update Sun Jun 26 11:49:16 PDT 2005 // added geographic isolation)
(Update Tue Sep 20 10:10:29 PDT 2005 // added advice and recommendations)
(Update Sun Sep 25 08:52:29 PDT 2005 // added for my kids

Comments

Re: Why Blog? Very cool, Rus. Careful man, you're motivating me... :: Comment posted by Owen on Sat, 25 Jun 2005 12:52 [Respond to this comment]