Fishing for Friends
Sometimes I spend an hour randomly following links from blogs to comments, and on to further blogs – reading, commenting, and reminding myself what it is to take part in the wider community.
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but I really enjoy it. Submerging yourself into the blogosphere (horrible word, but I can’t think of anything better) can be a very personal experience. Of course it depends on the writing you happen upon, but invariably you find all manner of strangers sharing their thoughts, experiences, struggles, hopes, and dreams with you. They have no clue who you are, but in many ways that is the attractionthe unknown reader.
In the same way that some people visit a therapist, or a psychiatrist, perhaps those of us that share our thoughts online are doing something similar.
While reading, it often strikes me how a well written blog post creates a sense of you being taken into the confidence of the author. Even though you know deep down you are one of countless thousands that might wander past, sometimes a voice will call out and capture you. Before you know it you are exchanging comments, then emails, and an unlikely friendship is forged.
I suppose it could be argued that those of us publishing our thoughts are fishermen of a sortthrowing messages in bottles over the side of our boat each day, wondering if anybody might find them and read them.