I'm dedicating this to my friend Cutter.

(http://cutter.tblog.com)

I visited a number of different blogs yesterday. It struck me how there is this whole undercurrent of life going on all around me that I was oblivious to. You pass people every day and have no idea of their struggles or their pain. You cannot judge by expression or demeanor; there are smiling people who carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and sour people who only think that they do.

One of the most eye opening things of the past few years has been how judgmental I was for much of my adult life. I wish that I could take it back but, since I can’t, I will learn from it instead. It is easy to sit from a high place and imagine yourself wise; to convince yourself that people are in certain predicaments because they are uneducated, unmotivated, or just bad people.

I used to see the world as very black and white; I peddled it, it was my mantra. The world looks very different when you are at the bottom of the mountain trying to claw your way back up.

That is why the concept of blogging is so amazing. It makes the world a smaller place. It is a strong dose of reality and allows you to view the human experience from every possible angle. It lets you ride along on someone else’s journey.

Sometimes when I am out somewhere surrounded by happy smiling people, I want to scream out loud. I want them to know that while I may be at Target shopping for a birthday present…I’m suffering, I’m hurting, and I’m scared.

Blogging lets me scream without the risk of someone calling the authorities.

The concept of a weblog gives people not only a voice, but, a much larger pool in which to swim. It opens the world up. Somewhere out there you will find someone who understands what you are going through—someone to gather round you, rally you, congratulate or console you. It doesn’t matter how many friends you have or how close you are to your family, in reality, we just want to be understood; to be known and loved in spite of who we are or where we find ourselves.

I think that reading about someone else’s life—the highs and the lows—helps to put ours into perspective. It also puts the world into perspective and gives us hope; for every death there is a birth, for every mean word there is kindness, for every struggle a celebration and for every person whining about how unfair life is there is someone who has it even worse inspiring us to keep fighting.