Why a blog and not Facebook

I share much more of who I am on this blog than I do on Facebook.  It's not that I'm embarrassed or ashamed of who I am and what I think.  It's just that so much of what happens on Facebook are circular arguments with people digging in to their particular position, and I see a lot of rancor.

I have a need to speak my piece, to put my voice out there.  But I don't want to argue with people, especially in cyberspace.

I have no problem with discussion or debate in person, where the nuance can be realized.  The singular dimension of words on a screen exacerbates differences, and words without inflection and facial expression can be perceived as more harsh and divisive.

With my blog, even though it is public, I believe that if people read it once, they get a good idea of who I am.  Then they can decide if they ever want to read my blog again.

I think of Facebook posts more like bumper stickers on your car, or signs on your front lawn.  Lots of people have to see your opinion who really aren't interested. And I'm OK with everyone knowing I like to racewalk, and I love my husband, and I love my daughter and I love my dogs.

I'm OK with everyone seeing I support Sandy Hook Promise, and Moms Demand Gun Sense in America, and that I like mostly everything about Pope Francis.

I also OK with everyone knowing I enjoy going to the theater, and I love heartwarming stories, and I cry when good people die.

But the nuanced part of me, the part that feels passionately about political and social issues?  That part of me is too complex for the simplicity of Facebook.

So, I blog.  I hope that people reading this blog are encouraged to think.  Thinking is a very good thing to do.  I really don't want to convince anyone to see things my way.  I just want everyone to think about things enough to know what they really believe.

It is so easy to believe the last thing you read or hear.  It is much harder to sit in the silence and hear your own wishes, desires and passions.

But in the silence, in that knowing of yourself, that is where true contentment lies.

"To thine own self be true." says Polonius in Hamlet.

But to be true to yourself - you have to know what is important to you - what fires you up - and what gives you solace.

Part of me defining myself comes through the discovery of trying to put my thoughts and feelings into words in this blog.

Feeling is easier than defining feeling.  And way easier than trying to communicate feeling.  And I feel in the pursuit of putting my feelings into words I am discovering myself in a whole new way.

I hope those of you reading this are defining and re-defining yourselves every day.  And discovering and re-discovering yourselves in a whole new way.

Because that is why a blog and not Facebook.  Because I want to be more than a sound bite.  I want to help people think about things in a new way, or about things they haven't thought about before.

I hope I'm dong that for you.