Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Not Quite Sure: about blogging

I'm with Becca on this. Not Quite Sure

And in addition to these larger concerns (Darfur, Katrina, Badger) I also have my own: a house that's not fully renovated, a friend in a coma, school starting, a church community in crisis, kids who need things...

When I make the list like that only the friend matters, of course, and the last I heard there were some good signs (I haven't been able to blog about her until I knew there were good signs, actually). But the thing that keeps striking me is how long I can go, forgetting about one or another of these things, just thinking about whatever next thing is on my to-do list. In England this summer, after the London bombings, I kept being shocked to find myself not thinking about them, for minutes and then hours and then days on end. I guess it's how we cope--except in the moment of immediate crisis we simply live our lives, mundanely preoccupied with whether there are enough copies of the handout or what color to paint the bedroom when the renovation is finished. It's of course fine to be thinking about those things--even, in its own way, necessary, from time to time--but to blog about them seems callous or self-centered or trivial. And it is, all of the above. So, like Becca, I meta-blog.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Elizabeth, I created my online journal (not a true blog) for two purposes: as a writing exercise and to chart my children's growth. I purposely avoid mention of world events, politics, etc. I try to inject some humor in what I write and it's basically a record for my children of my undying love for them and my fascination of them. All else pales in comparison. Claudia

Libby said...

Claudia, I hope you didn't read my comments as criticism of folks who aren't commenting on world events. I'm just musing about my own motives, not criticizing anyone else's.

Anonymous said...

No, not at all and hope I didn't come across as critical myself. Just kind of a "why I do it" comment. I think we create these public journals and perhaps feel we should be doing something grander - making a big statement about the world - because others might be. I simply cannot take in all the bad news and certainly don't feel qualified to comment about anything beyond my small circle of life. So...that's what I write about.

Libby said...

makes sense to me, Claudia.