It's personal

I was thinking about What Would Dana Do?’s (how do you punctuate that correctly??) recent post. Toward the end of the post she gave some thoughts on writing things of a more personal nature. I can understand the dilemma, you kind of bear your soul and often those are the posts people are least likely to comment on.

I have often read people’s posts and have found them moving, sobering, challenging or a whole range of other emotions, but somehow it just doesn’t feel right to comment. What could I say that doesn’t run the risk of sounding patronising, clichéd or turning into an opportunity to respond by talking about myself in response “oh yeah, you’re so right, now read what happened to me...” It’s good for people not to feel that they are the only one but it shouldn’t be an opportunity to turn it into something about myself.

The blogging world is a strange place. You can know all sorts of things about people who you wouldn’t even recognise if you saw them in the street and, perhaps bizarrely, you end up actually caring about these people and what happens to them.

A while ago Gripes wrote a post and I read it and it was one of those posts that you really want to say something in response but words just seemed inadequate. What could I say? I was greatly heartened that someone else was in the same dilemma as me. I wanted to respond to the comment by saying “Exactly!” But I didn’t even say that.

I think that some of it is about commenting on someone else’s blog. That is their space and they have kindly invited you in and at times they say things that are personal or hard to say, but somehow at times it can also feel wrong to cross some threshold by commenting, as though I am unqualified to do so (which I quite clearly am!). At times it might feel more acceptable to write about it on my own blog, I suppose because that is my space and somehow that feels more acceptable. In fact now I think about it, I have done this on occasion.

So... If I read your blog it is because I appreciate what you write. I count it as a privilege to read those things that are perhaps harder to say, even if I don’t always comment. Maybe I should try harder, maybe I should at least try and acknowledge that I have appreciated what has been written. I suspect at times I will and other times it will just not be possible to come up with the right words. I appreciate it nonetheless.