This weekend I went reading around the writings of some fellow obscure bloggers – folks who have done me the honor of liking a post or following my blog. It was very encouraging and inspiring to see the work of this broad community who feel the same way I do – that words have power and that this power is most meaningful when shared.
Two things especially struck me. One is the tag line of Faith Unlocked, which includes the phrase “if (poetry, quotes, and thoughts) mean something to one other person, they are worth sharing.” The other was a dialogue in a comments stream between two bloggers about the frustration of no one reading their posts.
It struck me that these are the two poles of the obscure blogger experience. On the one hand, we keep doing what we do, with little or no concrete encouragement, because we have this hope that just one person might find meaning in what we have written. And even one comment, or like, or word from a friend about last week’s post can be all the encouragement we need to keep going. On the other hand the experience of putting our words out there and getting no response can be incredibly disheartening – as though we have exposed a part of our soul to the world and it hasn’t been worthy of any notice.
Then, my son made a comment about the proverbial tree falling in the forest (he saw a silly commercial in which the tree says “Ow!”) and it clicked with this train of thought.
So, in honor of all my fellow obscure bloggers out there: here’s my poem for the day.
Philosophy of Posting
If a poem posts on the internet
and there is no one who chooses to
“like” it…
“pin” it…
comment on it…
or reblog it…
Does it touch a soul?
Yes, even if only your own.
Faith, Family, & Focaccia 