What the Blogosphere Needs More Of

Dave Pollard of How to Save the World has posted an update of his list of things that blog readers and blog writers want to see more of in the blogosphere. Here is part of the list:

:: What the readers want to see:
a. original research, surveys etc.
b. original, well-crafted fiction
c. great finds: resources, blogs, essays, artistic works
d. news not found anywhere else
h. personal stories, experiences, lessons learned

:: What the writers want to see:
a. constructive criticism, reaction, feedback
b. 'thank you' comments, and why readers liked their post
c. requests for future posts on specific subjects

I like his thoughts. When I started this blog back in March it was an impulsive move. I knew little about the blogosphere. It looked like something to jump into and give me a chance (and reason) to write about things that interest me and see who responds. I then starting leap-blogging and found an incredible world of pundits and prayers, anger and compassion, and lots and lots and lots of opinions. I decided that I wanted to be part of that world in my little way. (My sitemeter reminds how little. What a humbling tool that is which is supposed to keep my ego growing. Oh, well!)

It has been fun- and remains fun. I have found that I have more to say than I often put down. I think more about writing and what I might write. That gives me new perspectives on life that help me.

I have also come to appreciate the community of bloggers whose blogs I read and who will often comment briefly on mine. There is a cross-feeding going on that many of us may never know about.

I'm having fun... So, as Bene Diction reminds me daily- Blog On!

A Brief Limbaugh Thought or Two

I am probably now about to give something the blogosphere doesn't need- an opinion about Rush Limbaugh's current situation. Not original, not even profound, but, hey, it's my blog...

Addiction is cunning, baffling, and powerful. It can sneak up on you, grab you by the neck and other places and pull you down all the while convincing you that you are great, wonderful, in charge, and above all else, always right. It doesn't matter whether you are a conservative talk-show star, a liberal Hollywood actor, a star athlete, just your average college graduate hooked by the chugging contests at the frat or... anyone! In the addiction field it is often referred to as the "equal opportunity disease."

It is a disease. It is not a moral weakness. It is not a sign of being a wuss or unable to get any will-power. It is real and will kill you! It can be OxyContin or heroin, Valium or the granddaddy of all- alcohol. It changes the way you think, act, react, relate to yourself and your world. It is a disease of body, mind, spirit, soul. It is a big black hole ready to suck you away.

Sometimes those who rail the most about something are themselves the victim of the same thing they rail against. Enter Rush Limbaugh. No, he as not being a hypocrite when he spoke out against addicts. He was trying to hide himself from himself. He truly believed it and the addiction was there at work.

One thing Rush was right about was that personal responsibility is important- essential- in recovery. As long as you "blame" your problems, actions, and reactions on the addiction and say the "devil made me do it" you will not find health. You will stay sick.

So, for the moment, Rush is in treatment. Congratulations! He needs to listen, surrender, open himself up to the possibilities that are now ahead of him. He needs to look inside himself and find where he has given up responsibility to the disease which convinced him otherwise. He needs to make himself open and honest with himself so that he can see how this all affected him and others.

Will becoming clean make Rush into a quiet, bleeding heart liberal? I doubt it. But it may make him more willing to see the part he can play in making the world a place where addictions are less common and become an advocate for treatment of all kinds for as many as possible.

I am reminded of Chuck Colson who changed from a Nixon henchman in Watergate to the founder of Prison Fellowship after he saw the problems with the prison system. He became a force for change and growth. I hope that Rush does the same. Politics aside, no one- no one- deserves the hell of addiction.