Dust off the shoes

It is time to dust off this old pair of shoes which has lain forgotten at the back of the closet.

In my mind, the whole blog thing smacks of ego. As if my thoughts, opinions, experiences should matter to anyone! Life is so one off. Early on, if you are watching, you get a reality check when you compare your perception of an experience with someone else's. Were they watching the same proverbial car wreck?

I was convinced that the conclusion I drew from my experience was Absolute Truth, and that she just hadn't gotten it. Then she traced her experiential steps that led her to draw her conclusion, and it hit me. Her truth is as valid as mine, although opposite. Now, though I sound like I know what I'm talking about, any opinion I put forth is a target to be shot down, and I know I want to pay attention.

Maybe it is only the difference between seeing the cup half empty or half full. But maybe it goes deeper than that.

Having said that, I restart this blog with a whole new concept. In the past, while living in China, it was simply a way to put a postmark on my intellectual property. When I was 16, back in the 50s, I wrote a song. The high school band leader said I could get protection equal to copyrighting if I would write the music down, fold the piece of paper, put a stamp on it and mail it to myself. The official post mark from the U.S. Post Office provided legal proof of creation and ownership. More recently, when I saw that the articles I had written and which were published by my chosen venue, Escape From America eZine, were being 'stolen' and posted on various other sites without my permission, I thought I had better create a collection of them here at my own space, giving them as it were an official postmark.

As if it mattered! It turns out, the subject matter was the point of interest, not what I had to say about it or my special gifts as a writer. If the article I wrote with the word 'Kangding' in the title had been no more than a tally sheet of Kangding's demographic statistics, it would have received an equal number of hits.

That having been said, the next logical thought would be to identify this new concept, the new use for this old pair of shoes.

Logically, this should be a place for me to express my opinions. To lay out my experiences, and the conclusions I draw from them, or my punto de vista, how Life looks from here.

That recalls my worst nightmare. Being naked in the school yard, lining up to go back to class.

Never let it be said that I lack courage.

Oh, wait. In truth, the older I get the more unreliable my body becomes. That includes the courage muscle. Let me rephrase that.

Never let it be said that I lack will to pull together whatever courage I can muster.

Knowing that I am talking to myself, and that Self is not all that interested in listening, I will nevertheless make a commitment to post once a week. Here I am, a sitting target; have at it. Naked in the schoolyard, fast forward sixty years? Oh, not a pretty sight!