Friday, May 13, 2005

The sound of silence

Jill posts that she does not blog. Others blog, and get fired for it. Some offer help to avoid such unpleasant consequences.

What to say about that? Our lives are too rich to be contained even on the internet. Something will be edited out. If we choose to post our anger and discontent, our delight and warmth is edited away. The same happens the other way. What comes to us through our responses to the options we have, is the result of our choices. When we edit out the joys of life and get anger and bitterness in return, that should not surprise us.

We continuously edit ourselves, by choosing to smile when we want to cry, or hiding our laughter to spare the feelings of others. It is no surprise that the same kind of social skills that make us do that in face to face interaction, should be useful online.

So why do I post today, is there something I am not blogging? Always. Constantly. Sometimes about my private life (quite a big chunk, really), sometimes about my job (hmmm - equally big chunk), and a lot of the time about things which provoke me which I decide not to get into, because it would bring too much attention to a cause which does not deserve a single link. Every single post I write, is written at the expense of something I do not write. And today I already have several experiences I am not blogging. Trust me, there will be more.

3 comments:

Torill said...

You are welcome :)

Anne said...

I wonder sometimes how my love of the voluptuous, the excessive, is connected to my fear of being edited away.

I honestly believe that silence can be utterly violent, and I resent keeping quiet even when I can think of no reason that justifies me making noise.

Torill said...

I think I enjoy the blogs so much, because then I edit myself. But I enjoy silence, it is a luxury to me. While I appear loud, talkative and everything but silent in most company, the people I treasure the most are the ones I feel comfortable being silent with.