From a first time blogger, thoughts about life from an American missionary now living in the US after years in Russia and doing a lot of back and forth. Family stuff, Christian content, sports innuendo and lots of quotes from good books.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Random thoughts from the center of Moscow...

I have been keeping a mental checklist of sorts the last few years about why people (me included) blog. I'm not the first to ask this I am sure. Here are a few of my personal reasons I am sure of and an example or two to boot.

I think people blog to process stuff. I know I do. I was in front of the computer within 4 hours after my father died pouring my heart out. I really did not care if anyone read what I said (or did I?) rather I was just trying to put into words what 10 years of knowing his illness would eventually bring about brought about.

I think people blog to mark stuff. I have a friend who left a nice job (the 6 digit a year kind) to transition to a ministry job (the 4 or 5 digit a year kind). A few weeks before he left his job, he blogged. Included a picture and great movie quote too! Interestingly, he posted 3x in 6 weeks and was done forever. His blog is still up but he is so done marking that event in his life. He's 3.5 years down the road and other events are mark worthy now.

I think people blog to recast reality for themselves. I have another friend who blogs but only with pictures (or mostly with pictures). He tells a great story through the lense of the camera. It seems to me that his blog is as much about reminding himself and his family that there is a beauty and a nobleness to what they do that words can never really articulate. The pictures though do a much better job of expressing the beauty (a relative term in this case) of the place he lives and the life they lead.

Finally, I think people blog to see their View Count go up. You know one or two like that, don't you?

Labels: