an epiphany for emily

Emily stopped by for a fla.vor.ice and apparently she has become really into reading other people's blogs. She wanted me to be sure to check out this post from someone named Sidekick Sonia, which Emily said described the inner motivations of the blogfully devoted so poignantly that it caused her to weep.

Dear Fellow Bloggers,

I am sorry. Please accept my sincere apologies.

I used to be a blog snob. I used to think: Why must my friends write about their lives on the web, rather than tell me what's going on in their lives in person, or on the phone, by e-mail, or even by that almost extinct form of communication, letter writing? It all seemed so impersonal. I guess I thought that by blogging, my friends would somehow become less close to me, because they might not share their lives with me in person, on the phone, by e-mail, or by snail-mail, now that they can just say: Read my blog! What I didn't realize is that blogging isn't simply a chronology of one's life, it's a way for someone to let people into their lives, their thoughts, their feelings, in a way that sometimes isn't possible with other forms of communication, no matter how close you are to someone.

Blogging is also an outlet for creativity, and I'm all for creativity. There just isn't enough of it in this world. Sure, there's creativity all around us...music...books...art...etc...but it's not necessarily coming from us. Many people nowadays are so caught up with the race against time, to "catch up" when there's always more to, they push that aspect, that creative aspect, of themselves away from them. Blogging, I've seen, is a way to bring that aspect back.

Of course, blogging is many more things to many more people...but I've chosen to write about communication and creativity because those are what this blog will be to me.

Needless to say, I think I am becoming quite attached to my blog.

"Rock," says Emily, "this person is my new [expletive deleted] idol. I finally understand what all this hoopla is about."

While I am not sure this person's motivations for blogging at all match my own, I am pleased to see the understanding, joy, and cybertolerance that she has brought to Emily and who knows how many others in the blogging world.

Emily wants me to go on with something about how many lives/souls she touches/saves with her own weblog, but since she doesn't actually have a weblog, this is merely envy speaking. I worry that Emily is beginning to think of my weblog as somehow also her own.