Why I blog

There's an old Protestant hymn called "His Eye Is On The Sparrow."  The refrain says "I sing because I'm happy.  I sing because I'm free."  That has something to do with why I blog. I only ever write blogs when I am away from home.  It is a tool I use to keep from being too lonely and homesick.  Most of my friends really don't know what it's like to be in a culture not your own for an extended period, to be surrounded by different customs and different languages.  Sometimes it's like existing in a "cone of silence."  There are times when I feel very low and very alone, and of course many times when life is very good.  I write almost always with a positive spin and it makes me feel better to emphasize all the good stuff.

Tony deMello, SJ, said that if you want to be loved, be loving.  I always hoped that my blogs would create a kind of dialogue so I could keep contact and hear from friends and family at home.  So, to twist deMello, I write so that I will be written to.  For the most part it doesn't work.  I generally get little to no feedback on my blogs and generally people at home are too busy with their own lives to write to the absent one(s).

For the past few years, I travel, not for travel but to use the life-skills I have learned to the benefit of an emerging liberation movement for LGBT in Eastern Europe.  I am driven to do this.  I also blog so that I can bring my family and friends with me.  I blog because I'm happy.  I blog because I'm free.