Connections

I little more than a month ago, one of our friends (~deb) stopped blogging. At the time, I know what we were all thinking - ~deb is getting too much action to write. Okay, perhaps that's not what other people were thinking. Most people don't have their brains in the potty.

Here is what I noticed. ~Deb was (is!) really popular, and her blog linked people with very diverse interests: fundamental Christians (they either love her or hate her), lesbians (ditto), writers, people who loved her sense of humor, and those thinking she would post lesbian kissing videos. I am sure there are other interests involved, but the point is that she has a diverse bunch of friends. Anyway, she would connect people of different interests with her blog. And we would benefit because they would occasionally hop over to our blogs as well, posting occasionally.

Since April 15, however, I have noticed fewer lesbians and fundamental Christians on my blog. I mean Grant can say I will rot in Hell for my actions (he is not fundamental Christian; I suspect he believes everyone will rot in Hell – though he may characterize it as more of a party atmosphere), but that's not like someone else knowing God's mind and telling me I will rot. Some Christians are just helpful that way. Plus I don't get the lesbian crowd trying to convince me to go to Florida for a private pool party (I suspect that is code for something, but I am not sure what).

At one point I actually wanted to get together two of my blogging friends: ~deb and Joe. I mean, I thought the two of them had a lot in common. They were both from New York. They both wrote wonderful and humorous blogs. And they both like girls. Yeah, I did not really think this one through. That's like saying, "This Phillips screwdriver should work fine, screwing in the flat head screw. The screwdriver is near the screw, and both are made of metal." But ~Deb and Joe were not destined to be. SSC gets that honor. Oh, SSC and Joe, not SSC and ~Deb (as far as I am aware of). Reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell's story in Tipping Point concerning Paul Revere's ride. There were actually two riders that night, Paul Revere and the other guy. We don't remember the other guy because he really wasn't that connected to the people he was trying to communicate with. So history has forgotten this man, and so have I. The other guy was not effective at linking people, so when he rode by, shouting "The British are coming," I suspect a lot of people thought to themselves, "Who is that idiot who seems to have had too much mead this evening." Okay, the story is a bit different, but you get the idea.

As humans, we seem to need to connect. And many of us connect with similar people – our own church groups, people we work with, maybe people we share a hobby with (swingers, perhaps, connect in another way). But some, the rare individuals, seem to be able to connect with people of different backgrounds. Whether it is people or blogs, when connections are broken, it is felt.