Not Just a Diary

I don抰 have a blog other than these articles on www.blog.m6.net which is the blog site of the company that I work for. I抳e started a few, same as I抳e started to keep a diary a few times, but I just don抰 stick with them. Perhaps deep down I doubt anyone cares about my day-to-day life, and I抦 not anxious to post my deep and intense innermost feelings. I don抰 wear my heart on my sleeve, and I don抰 want to post it on the Internet.

However, for those of a blogger bent who want to share their lives with others, it抯 an excellent idea. You can share your life with the world, letting people on other continents know what it抯 like to live where you live, and what it抯 like to be who you are. Blogs are good for non-bloggers too, letting people on the other side of an issue, or a war, or the planet, read about what life is like on your side. A few years ago I met a woman with a terrible secret which sounded like some insane conspiracy theory. I tried to organize a blog for her since she wanted to share her information, and because I wanted to hear about any further developments. Sadly, I was unable to set it up that day and subsequently lost touch with her.

Oddly enough, blogs have grown beyond being a window into the blogger抯 life, becoming more in the realm of entertainment. A blogger friend of mine won抰 be able to write in her blog for two weeks. If it were just a diary she could just say, 慡ee you in two weeks? Instead, she is having two guest bloggers fill in. Isn抰 a guest blogger like putting two chapters of someone else抯 autobiography in the middle of your own? I assume that the guest bloggers will give a window into THEIR own lives, and I suspect, they抳e already proven themselves to her in their own blogs, so her 憆eaders?could simply read their blogs for two weeks. Clearly blogs are more involved than I realized.

Blogs can make you famous or let you be anonymous. You can vent your concerns about yourself to an anonymous world. Or, you can get help from strangers who may judge you but won抰 be able to tell anyone you know what their judgment is. This is of course unless your friends read your blog, which I consider as part of the point of having a blog. Then they will read your venting, and any strangers?replies to it no matter how judgmental they are. On the other side of the equation, your friends can help without you having to go through the trauma of telling them directly. Plus, any of the strangers reading your blog might notice something wrong that you aren抰 aware of. A medical student might tell you what the tingling in the soles of your feet might mean so that you can consult a doctor before it gets more serious. A German housewife might notice that alcohol features more and more in your life, or that you seem to be shifting between joy and sorrow with worrying regularity. More than a window on someone抯 life or simple entertainment, blogs are another way to connect with both friends and strangers, anywhere, anytime.