Introduction

This is my third attempt at blogging. It poses a problem for me, does blogging. Like keeping a diary, which I have for years, it is a way of expressing and recording one's thoughts and feelings, albeit in a public forum. The conflict I experience is that my life is just one of billions of human lives, no more and no less important than any other, so what would make it worth the effort, either in the writing or the reading?

On the other hand, the personal sharing of one's perspectives can find resonance often with others of like mind in ways that are very affirming, as has been my experience with a wonderful blogger from the Middle East, now taking a break from blogging. Beyond that, assuming there are readers, it may be a means of connecting us in times that are difficult, to say the least, and are likely to fracture more than unite us

On a personal level, there is a desire as one ages to reflect on the life one has led and to share that, to be acknowledged for having had a life, with all its permutations. And speaking for myself, advancing years and a still curious mind have given me the opportunity for vision I could not have had at an earlier age. Is this worth sharing? Can it have relevance to anyone else? We shall see.

Another personal observation/admission is that I live in a rather deep state of physical, intellectual and social isolation, self-imposed I realize in retrospect, which has nonetheless afforded me time and space to hone my thinking (along with much reading and contemplation). The rural experience can be quite a complex one. A necessity for one such as I, but at a price (and doesn't every good thing have its price?).

So I begin this with a certain anticipation, a certain apology, a certain hesitation, a certain appreciation. And always with the realization that even with the best of our efforts, what we think, feel and express is always highly subjective, no matter our earnest attempts at objectivity. There can be no occasion for hubris, the cancer of objective, clean, rational thought.

So I offer my thoughts, experience, emotions, reactions and stories. Or I make that attempt. Reader, beware.