Surviving the "Dark Side"

One of my favorite all time bloggers, who had gone into semi-retirement, returned to post that she has probably retired for good, and listed a litany of reasons for this, the gist of her abandonment from this medium being that it is rife with artificiality, soap-opera drama, and all around fiction being given as fact, amongst other things, many of these complaints being quite reasonable, others simply throwing out the baby with the bathwater. As disturbing as all this is, I find this not much different than just about any endeavor being abandoned for having some negative aspect. I respect her decision, but it saddens me nonetheless.

Way back in the day, when I had more time and energy than stuff to keep me occupied, I picked up model rocketry as a hobby. For such a "silly" endeavor, it sure took alot of time and dedication. Competitions were scattered all over the place, not just locally, and once I even drove in a '69 Honda Civic (those cars were not exactly designed to comfortably hold large or numerous human beings for extended trips) with my first wife and a very tall friend all the way from Houston Texas to Lubbock in the middle of winter to attend a regional championship. It could have been described as a truly miserable experience (and I KNOW my wife at that time thought it was) were it not for the records I captured and the people I got to meet. Lots of things can go wrong at these gatherings, such as lost rockets, exploding rockets, and irresponsible people doing dangerous things that could get someone hurt. Then there's politics, and yes, even a meeting of the NASA/ Houston Chapter of the National Association of Rocketry was rife with politics and squabbling and interesting clashes of personalities. You could pull out your hair or you could focus on what you loved about the sport and fly rockets. It's all relative.

I've been involved in chat rooms on the net, and nothing brings out the worst in people than these anonymous free-for-all meeting places where anything goes because it can. People come away from these places thinking the entire world is one big lie, simply because they failed to take everything they heard with a grain of salt. Chat rooms are a whole new ball game in the world of social intercourse, and we have not yet adapted to this new way of communicating, and yes, trying to tell which is which, and who is who. Look at it this way.......those of you who have, for whatever reason, watched an episode of Jerry Springer.........if you honestly think for one second that this is a real, genuine snippet of life, then you really need to get a clue! Just like "professional" wrestling, it's all one big comic opera and when you start taking this stuff seriously, you are losing touch with reality.

Just as there are all kinds of people in our social circles, so are there an odd assortment of people writing blogs that might be fudging the truth. For most of us, this medium is a new kind of journal, the kind we used to write solely to ourselves, and there wasn't much sense in making things up. That's what fiction is for. However, some people have such a strong need to be appreciated, to be admired, or to create some sort of life better than their own, that they have taken to using blogs to create these ficticious worlds in which to make themselves feel better. Yes, I suppose it is right and proper that this should anger us, since we come away with a sense of betrayal when these people fail us in this way, but perhaps pity would be a better emotion to waste on them. In the end they mostly harm themselves when their false worlds fall apart, and they lose their new found "friends". The only people they hurt in return are those that invest themselves in these characters, as I have said, without leaving open the possibility that what they read is not entirely the truth. I have a friend who blogs whom I imagine to be a certain way, but I am fully aware that I could one day discover she is nothing like she presented herself to be. I simply accept that as the price of present trust, something I'm not prepared to totally abandon just because there are bad people in the world. Besides, my life is not dependent upon the lives of others as I read in blogs......it sucks sometimes simply of it's own accord.

My own approach to blogging has been a learning experience from the first word I typed, and will constantly evolve as I go on. I try to balance what makes for good reading with what is prudent to reveal, whether or not my own personal quirks and behaviors are approved by others or not. To reveal that my wife is a witch could possibly be considered an unwise thing by some. I do not. She is what she is and I love her very much. To reveal that our finances are a constant headache could be considered another misstep. I consider it honesty, nothing more. The fact that I bitch and moan and examine what's wrong with the world pushes some people's buttons.......well....to bad, go hit "next blog" and you won't have to suffer it any more. But then you won't get to laugh at me while I laugh at myself.

While I do spend a bit of time trying to produce material for my blog that keeps my readers interested, if I had other interests away from this computer which burned more of my time, then I would spend a bit less time here. But, to write about what happened to me doesn't have to take up more than perhaps a half hour, and I waste that much time trying to remember where I left my coffee cup. So, if you think that blogging is taking up all your time and keeping you glued to your chair, then lighten up, back away, drop the chalupa, and budget your blogging time accordingly. It needn't become an obsession that takes over your life. Just remember that it never took you two hours to write in your diary, it shouldn't take forever to tell us about the "A" your daughter got in chemistry, how the dog ate your slippers, or why you think The Michael's blog is insightful, interesting, and downright enjoyable, even if you think he's flat out lying about everything he types.

Which he isn't, my friends, although he tries to paint an otherwise dull life in fluorescent colors, just to make it interesting............grin.