Thoughts On Blogging

Hello! Guest blogger Brad filling in for Mo today. It's a bit of a challenge for me. Mo's posts typically give you something to think about or a way to challenge yourself to be your best. I, on the other hand typically post drivel interspersed with pictures of my dog, Bear. So I'll try and kick it up a notch.

Some folks have probably reached their saturation point on all things inaugural and political, after this week of celebration and self back slapping but I wanted to share something that blogging has brought me. I'm a pretty political animal by nature and when I first started blogging I tended to rant politics a lot. After a while (and after re-reading some posts) I decided to pull my horns in and sit down and shut up about it.

I found out that when I was quite I was able to hear so much better. Blogging has brought a lot of different people with different ideas into my life. People I would not normally meet in my day to day real life. I've been able to get to know people and like them even though we have differing opinions. I've had some really good debates with new friends of differing minds and learned a lot about opposing perspectives. I've also learned that I'm too quick to judge based on labels like 'Democrat' and 'Republican'.

Tuesday was a big day for this country. But the inauguration of a new president with new ideas will not move our country forward alone. It's up to each of us to take the time to seek out people who think differently then we do and engage them in a dialogue to find a common ground.

It sounds like a tall order but it really is easy to do. I've found the blog-o-sphere full of warm and wonderful people ready to share. All you have to do is share yourself.