Keep On Blogging

One of my all-time favorite cartoonists and cartoons was Gary Larson and The Far Side. It was a sad day in my life when he decided to retire as hardly a day passed when Larson and zany depictions did not start my day off with at least a smile and, in some cases, a laugh out-loud moment. One of his cartoons I remember shows hundreds of penguins standing together in a large group when suddenly one of them rises and shouts, "I gotta be me!" This particular cartoon came to mind recently when I read in a recent edition of Newsweek magazine that in America there are currently approximately 141 million active blogs in existence. (This compares with only 12,000 just ten years ago.) With our country's total population numbering slightly more than 309 million, that means over one-third of our residents are active bloggers. To put it mildly, this does not put me in what I would call "select company."

Perhaps another conclusion to draw is that through the communication channel we call the "blog," over one-third of our population is that like penguin in the cartoon. By sharing our thoughts, comments on the world, discussing issues or topics of interest to us, or reaching out to others we are seeking to distinguish ourselves even if slightly. Given the numbers, it is probably safe to assume that the great majority of the blogs go unread or unnoticed irregardless of how well written, provocative or stimulating they might be. That's too bad. At the same time, I see that reality as being no reason why one should stop blogging, particularly if it is something they enjoy doing. After all, blogging is a viable form of communication in these times when so many of the world is connected via the Internet.

In the same set of statistics by Newsweek, it was reported that there 4.5 billion text messages on any given day (as compared to 400.000 ten years ago). This statistic, coupled with the number of active bloggers, tells me there is a massive amount of reachng out going on in our country these days. People want to connect. People want to be heard. People want to try and make some type of difference with their voice and thoughts. I see that as being healthy and even hopeful. With that amount of communicating going on, then the amount of dialog that is resulting - even if it is between two people - has got to be equally impressive. With dialog eventually comes consensus. And with consensus eventually comes progress. So, to the 141 million active bloggers in our country, I say "keep on blogging!" Even in a small way, it is contributing to a greater good.