DID *I* DO THAT?

Blogdaughter Michele of Letters From New York City has two very intense, very personal posts that everyone with a blog needs to read. I'll give a strong hanky alert to both. If you read either without misting up, seek professional help.

They're stories of personal pain, and tragedy, but they're also about the love and hope that pulled her through to the other side. They're stirring, and moving, and in the end, it's the joy that wins out. They give me the image of a woman on a mountain top, staring at the promise of a green valley below as she turns her back on the desert she's spent years crossing.

They're also about the power of blogging to transmit the human touch.

There's been much noise about bloggers - at least in some circles - and their role in fact-checking the mainstream media, and their abilty to change the course of the political storms that sweep through America from time to time. However, there is a lesser aspect, and one that - for now - remains under the radar of the ponitificating powers that be. It is, I believe, actually the greater aspect. It's the power to make a difference, one person at a time.

What's NOT being talked about is that blogging gives you the chance to touch another person's life in tiny increments on a regular basis. No single instance is particularly huge, but the accumulation is. It's the slow, steady, emotional contacts that work a blogger's magic - like raindrops wearing down a mountain - except the effect is a creation and a building-up, rather than a deterioration.

I swear I never meant for this to happen. I started blogging for purely selfish reasons. I just wanted to see my words in print and have people say "you don't suck". It was "all about me".

Still is, actually.

I honestly don't do this - the posting, the comments, the special projects - for the sake of other people. If I had to name a motivation for the whole Bad Example Family phenomenon, I'd have to say it arose out of my sense of justice. I believe that the most important thing is not punishing the wicked, but rewarding the good - something that all too often gets left undone.

I'm a particular fan of good writing. Not just good grammar & spelling, but also the ability to write with clarity, and make a point with conviction. I'm especially giddy with joy when I can read something that is both well-done AND original. I spend my workaday existence amongst drones & parrots who mumble mere echoes of the things their betters have said. It's frankly quite wearying. So when I am blessed with even a short paragraph or two of words that I couldn't have created myself - things that catch me by surprise, or make me laugh, or make me think - I want to reward the mind that gave me such pleasure.

So I'll leave a comment. Maybe just a little "well said" or a "LOL!", but still, it lets the person know they've touched me on some level - that a connection was made, and their efforts aren't in vain.

Such a small thing, really. But - like pennies in a coffee can - it's adds up to something substantial after a while.

HOW substantial?

Ask Michele.

Just something to think about while you're waiting for those Blogger comments to load and wondering if it's worth it.

Yes... it is.