I mentioned something in the comments of my post last night that got me thinking... but before I think the think some more, a word on last night's post.I've noticed that whenever I write a post that has any negativity in it directed at myself (either me slaying myself or me quoting someone else doing it) you all rally around me like a hen protecting her chick. It's a beautiful thing.
At the same time, it makes me wonder if when I get a bit philosophical, do I sound so particularly bereft and heartbroken that you feel the need to pump me back up to Pollyanna-land? I ask because by the time the comments roll in on my darker posts, they kind of look like Fishing Posts.* And nobody really wants to go fishing around here. As much as I love them, compliments just make me sort of tense.
But back to last night's comment. Remember when I described blogs as Tables? I liked that analogy so much that I've got a new one. Star Wars.
It just had to be.
Szroom, szroom (that's my light saber szrooming, in case you were wondering).
Okay, so this Star Wars analogy is somewhat laboured. See, in Blogging Star Wars there are no evil teams, we are all fighting on the same team. So, it's kind of not like Star Wars at all but... well, there is definitely the Dark Side of our team and... the others. What exactly are the 'other' guys in Star Wars called? The Boring Lukes?
I'm a Boring Luke blogger and I'm calling us the Lightweights. I blog about nice stuff happening in nice places and while I do like to dabble in social commentary from time to time, generally it's of the being mean to yummy mummy variety, rather than anything especially meaningful or world changing.**
The crafty blogs, the beauty blogs, the fashion blogs, those pesky award-winning motorbike blogs and many of the mummy blogs all make up the Lightweights. You better believe the 'stylists' blogs are over here.
Lightweights are definitely the kind of people who hang their smalls behind the sheets on the washing line. And, if you're anything like me, your pegs are nicely colour co-ordintated with each pair of knickers as well. Even though no-one can see them.
The Dark Siders are the gutsy bloggers who 'blog raw' and have no problem hanging their knickers anywhere they darn well please. They probably don't even wear them. The Dark Siders are compelling and their words can be life-changing. They dig deep trenches to get at the heart of life. Sometimes dark things have happened to Dark Siders and they let us in to feel their pain and anger. Sometimes not. Sometimes they just prefer to wear sunglasses.
It is no surprise to learn that I find the Dark Side utterly fascinating and I get all itchy wondering what it would be like to experience life on their level. But I'm far too much like a flappy little moth, drawn to light and annoying at BBQs, to ever really know what it's like.
Which is exactly why the blog world needs both the Dark Side and the Lightweights.Together we use the force Luke and save us all from ourselves. Access to the 'other' type of person is something that we rarely get in life. We don't tend to hang out with people who are different to ourselves and we often don't talk about the minuate of daily life and frustrations when we do. So more than anything blogging allows us to be challenged by the amazing insights of others and to share in so many lives that enhance our understanding of the world and our place in it. To somehow experience the unexperiencable. It is an opportunity like no other.
Use the force, indeed.
Are you a Dark Sider or a Lightweight? Do you dabble in the other side?
* Note to the kind people: This is not a Fishing post.
** Although one of my dear readers did happen to mention Mandela on my blog yesterday, so that's gotta count for something, right? Right?
[Image found here. There are so many cheesy but hysterical Star Wars spoofs out there, finding this image was a... blast.]