The Smell of Bloggers in the Morning
Once again I sit here in the morning, high atop a sand dune in Oceano, contemplating, wanting to contribute something worthy to this fine new Central Coast News Mission blog site.
My first inclination, as it is with many bloggers, is to complain about something, to cast judgment, to declare somebody or something not right and in need of fixing; to point out something that stinks and make sure everyone else knows it.
I'm reminded of a scene in a school yard of my youth, where a boy unscrews a thermos pulled from a lunch box that had been too long in the hot sun. The milk inside has turned to a sickening, nose-biting sourness.
"Oh, gross!," he proclaims, scrunching his face and drawing the attention of his school mates. "Here, smell this!" he says, passing the fouled chalice to his best friend who eagerly takes a whiff, contorts his face, makes his own exclamation attesting to the stench before him and passes it to another schoolmate. Soon there is a gathering of kids alert and buzzing from the gross-out they have all shared
Shouting our complaints and passing around our sourness is a ritual for which blogging seems tailor made. But I am trying to resist temptation. I want to put my head in a different, more uplifting space. For me that is a serious and difficult challenge.
Complaining is compelling and contagious. It's an easy way to draw attention. It's not hard work, but in can be prestigious and profitable The media is full of professional complainers. The biggest names in radio are the loudest complainers, on a daily basis passing around a reeking chalice of audio sourness from coast to coast. The blogging world is not much different, except that bloggers aren't getting paid for it. They are pretty much like most people: highly experienced amateur complainers and critics.
Criticizing can be a lifestyle, a career even. Having earned money writing opinions on art, entertainment and social issues, I know what it is like to be a journeyman complainer--a person who pulls a paycheck for viewing the cup half-empty instead of half-full and trying to get the rest of the world to see things the same way. I was a bit of a natural at it, but I've come to believe it is not something to be proud of.
Like many things that our society promotes--like eating junk food, drinking alcohol, buying superfluous items we can ill afford--complaining and criticizing can provide momentary pleasure. But its positive benefits are generally exaggerated and the consequences to our emotional, physical and spiritual health and that of those around us can be more debilitating than we are inclined to admit.
Some of you reading this might be feeling a bit of self-satisfaction right now, concluding that I have just spent several hundred ironic words complaining about complaining. So, right now I am going to do what I think many bloggers should consider doing : lift my hands from the keyboard and not put them back until I have something positive and uplifting to contribute.
My first inclination, as it is with many bloggers, is to complain about something, to cast judgment, to declare somebody or something not right and in need of fixing; to point out something that stinks and make sure everyone else knows it.
I'm reminded of a scene in a school yard of my youth, where a boy unscrews a thermos pulled from a lunch box that had been too long in the hot sun. The milk inside has turned to a sickening, nose-biting sourness.
"Oh, gross!," he proclaims, scrunching his face and drawing the attention of his school mates. "Here, smell this!" he says, passing the fouled chalice to his best friend who eagerly takes a whiff, contorts his face, makes his own exclamation attesting to the stench before him and passes it to another schoolmate. Soon there is a gathering of kids alert and buzzing from the gross-out they have all shared
Shouting our complaints and passing around our sourness is a ritual for which blogging seems tailor made. But I am trying to resist temptation. I want to put my head in a different, more uplifting space. For me that is a serious and difficult challenge.
Complaining is compelling and contagious. It's an easy way to draw attention. It's not hard work, but in can be prestigious and profitable The media is full of professional complainers. The biggest names in radio are the loudest complainers, on a daily basis passing around a reeking chalice of audio sourness from coast to coast. The blogging world is not much different, except that bloggers aren't getting paid for it. They are pretty much like most people: highly experienced amateur complainers and critics.
Criticizing can be a lifestyle, a career even. Having earned money writing opinions on art, entertainment and social issues, I know what it is like to be a journeyman complainer--a person who pulls a paycheck for viewing the cup half-empty instead of half-full and trying to get the rest of the world to see things the same way. I was a bit of a natural at it, but I've come to believe it is not something to be proud of.
Like many things that our society promotes--like eating junk food, drinking alcohol, buying superfluous items we can ill afford--complaining and criticizing can provide momentary pleasure. But its positive benefits are generally exaggerated and the consequences to our emotional, physical and spiritual health and that of those around us can be more debilitating than we are inclined to admit.
Some of you reading this might be feeling a bit of self-satisfaction right now, concluding that I have just spent several hundred ironic words complaining about complaining. So, right now I am going to do what I think many bloggers should consider doing : lift my hands from the keyboard and not put them back until I have something positive and uplifting to contribute.
posted by David C. at 11:02 AM
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