Wednesday, February 1, 2023

The Bench Business - Why I'll Keep Blogging, Even After I Stop

I have almost completed 10 full years of blogging daily. I started this habit on February 3, 2013, and I'll end it on February 3, 2023. Granted, I may still blog occasionally, when I have a particularly blogworthy thought to share, but I don't intend to hold myself to the commitment of blogging daily.

Yet, without the commitment to blog about something every evening, I can imagine that I'll come to overlook moments that, while not completely blogworthy, are at least blogable and marginally worth sharing. Case in point, I was of some benefit to society this morning. I saw a problem (some business to do with one of the benches at a lightrail station), and while I couldn't solve the problem myself, I could report the problem to those who could solve it. My involvement was rather minor, but had no one reported the problem, it would have remained unreported for who knows how long. Granted, someone else would have reported the problem eventually if I hadn't, but if everyone had that attitude, no one would report such issues, let alone solve them. Sometimes, we need to step up, not because it's our responsibility or because we're especially qualified to step up, but because someone has to, and we just happened to be there when there was a problem to solve.

It was a minor event in my morning. I saw a problem, found a phone number, made a call, and went on my way. I would have completely forgotten about it in days, had I not had the obligation to blog about something.

Yet, that very experience taught me that people don't need to have an obligation in order to step up and do something that may be marginally helpful to someone. I had no obligation to report that issue, but I did it anyway, because it was a small thing I could do to contribute toward solving that problem. Soon, I will have no obligation to blog about anything, but I might anyway, because it's a small thing I can do to share thoughts that might be helpful.

I'll keep the blog bookmark in my browser, and I'll keep the blog tab open on my phone. And every so often, when I have something to blog about and a moment in which to do so, I just might. I won't blog because I have to or because I'm an especially brilliant blogger, but because I will occasionally have thoughts worth sharing, and I worry that they'll be lost forever if I don't.

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