I'm really not this deep...

It seems a right of passage for all good nerds to try, at one time or another, and blog. We’re a strange bunch, we techies (or tech-ers if you prefer.) Normally by trade, many of us amass volumes of disconnected technical knowledge and ability in a range of many powerful creative tools. At first glance than, it must seem a natural fit to take that step onto the internet and apply the knowledge to a medium like blogging. Invariably though, knowing how to use a hammer and being able to build a house end up being two different things. My friends tell me too, you may not realize that you didn’t WANT to build the house until after you’ve started.

I guess I’ve just held out about as long as I can, and now take my turn behind the keys to indulge in that (hopefully only a little) narcissistic impulse which tells me I might have something to say that people are going to want to hear. Perhaps that’s the pitfall, in that the process won’t sustain itself unless I’m writing for myself. Fair enough. Still there has to be a reason to think this is worth putting on the internet. What do I think I can add to this global conversation, already deafening with so many voices?

That was the question that kept me from taking my turn for this long. After all,  I always thought  the things that move people to value their lives are generally divine or dramatic in nature: a pastor speaking to the congregation or a philosopher writing about the nature of the universe. Perhaps even something life threatening.

Thank you for calling tech support. Somebody shoot me.

Then it occurred to me that perhaps these things suffer from the inverse problem: they aren’t average enough. Many of us will never get to see a real biblical miracle and the God-on-cloud concepts of life after death aren’t making it any easier to bring home the groceries today. If you’re an atheist like I am, you may not be holding your breath for Jesus (sounds like a Christian academy swim team), but feeling the crushing sameness of daily life still needs to be dealt with, and unless you’re a pure hedonist you still need to find a reason to put your shoes on in the morning. Life may be a feast, but we’re still stuck eating it one measly grape at a time. There may be beauty and poetry in the construction of the universe but where the hell is the beauty in rush hour traffic, loneliness, a car insurance bill, or that root canal I’ve been putting off for six months?

Well I’m not actually sure, but as the world gets smaller and flattens out, I think it’s these things that will bridge nations and not the political ideology of our leaders or the canned idealism of our cultural philosophers. A global interconnected economy means that now there are people in China who hate working at Starbucks as much as I hated working at Blockbuster. That’s a connection. It’s a tenuous one, but a start. Heck, if it’s never anything more than that, misery loving company is still an act of love.

So…Why not someone like myself to open that conversation? Being an average specimen makes me uniquely qualified to speak to and understand that experience. I am not a politician, or a movie star, or a celebrity, or a billionaire.

I’m Ian. Pleased to meet you. Stick around. Give us a chance. We’ll get better.

I promise.

Oh and please, introduce yourself below.  See you in a week.