Dear Anonymous D,I'm sure many ILI readers read your comments and think we are friends. They would probably be shocked to know that you stumbled upon my blog randomly. But I am thrilled you have.
This is the beauty of the Internet. The rueful randomness. The fact that two total strangers can bump into each other in invisible terrain. The fact that with the stroke of a key, words and ideas and emotions and confessions can travel from here to there. And from there to here.
We share Kyle and a passion for our kids. We are both experimenting with a new and delightful drug: honesty.
In my darker hours when I wonder why I am doing this, why I am blogging, why I am putting myself out there, I think of you. A person, a successful and good person it seems, who has taken time out of her busy days to read what I have to say. And to say something back. And when I think of this, I realize that it is all worth it. Very worth it.
Thank you for your web friendship. What do you say we talk life and law over a glass of wine one of these days?
Insecurely yours,
Aidan
Aidan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind letter. I am honored to be a recipient/virtual friend. I too love the randomness of the Internet and how you can feel connected to someone you have never met. I love the absence of pretense, that we don't have to show a "public face," when meeting people virtually. It makes it very efficient to sort out who is worth bothering to get to know. That said it has never been my intention to make friends on the Internet, I, like many of us who juggle busy lives, have many friends I never see. Still, as you say the “rueful randomness” sometimes intervenes.
I stumbled onto the blog after a pretty taxing day at work and I’m still amazed I found it. I almost never randomly click links on other sites, especially at work. As you have seen, some people use the Internet’s anonymity to be cruel, snobby or boastful. I prefer to simply call it as I see it. And if I have any skills at all, I am a very good judge of who is full of it, and who is the real deal. (Remember, this is how I make my $5/day!) You Aidan are the real deal. You put yourself out there knowing many people will dismiss you as unworthy of expression because of your privileged life. What they don't see is that precisely because of who you are, you lack any ulterior motive. You are simply doing precisely what you set out to do in your “blog objective.” Honest discussion of what really makes us act or do a certain thing is what it is all about. That’s why I read what you write every day, and often feel compelled to respond. I know that there are many more people out there who appreciate your unique voice. (I’m just amazed I found you virtually at ILI’s inception, I am never in on the ground floor, on anything!) Keep on writing, I (and the rest of us) will keep on reading.
D
PS I’m up for a cabernet and a chat anytime!