M:e wrote a beautiful post here, and asked a few questions of her readers. I’ve decided to answer them in my blog tonight.

If we say we write for ourselves, why do why have public blogs?

For me, this one is simple. I don’t kid myself and pretend I write for myself. I don’t. I write this for an audience, and for the chance to be heard and to gain insight from those willing to engage and maybe to make someone else think, even a little bit. Not a guarantee of these things, of course, but a chance.

I write separately, for myself and my Master, every day. My blog is not the first place I come when I need to write my way through a private idea.  (If it were, you would probably run screaming.  I can be a whiny, petulant child when I put my mind to it.)

This is my public forum, and I make no claims otherwise. (I guess this question applies to people who say they write for themselves.)

If we seek acceptance of our choices, beliefs and views, why is it sometimes hard for us to extend that same acceptance to others without judgement?

I’ve read the comments on M:e’s post about this one.  Universally, people said they try not to judge.  I suppose I try not to as well, in certain situations.  I can’t claim I do it very well, but sometimes I do try.  Just not always.

I will admit I might judge more than I should, but I am not convinced non-judgment is always the path to take.

What a sad, stagnant, dispassionate world we would live in if we stopped judging.  Imagine what great advances – medical, scientific, social – would not have been made if people had not held firmly to their own beliefs, and not judged others (sometimes the world at large) as wrong?

It is so deeply human to take ideas, from ourselves and others, process them, evaluate them, and arrive at conclusions.  In short, to judge.  I believe this process has wrought some beautiful changes in our human landscape.

There are many situations where this sort of conviction is not necessary and is, in fact, petty and/or detrimental.  We see this daily, in the blogging world and our real lives.  Well, I do, at least.  I know we have all seen it on a grand scale historically.  But we’ve also seen that same conviction, that willingness to judge the forces that be as wrong, change humankind for the better.

I admit I hold some very deep beliefs that cause me to judge others.

For instance, I believe in love.  I believe in all kinds of love.  I believe love needs to be championed and fought for, even at great cost.  I cannot let go of my judgment that those who seek to condemn certain kinds of love are wrong. 

I also believe that children need to be kept safe.  I believe their rights and their protection need to be fortified, always. I believe great sacrifices would be worth it, if they kept a child from harm.  And I can not relinquish my judgment that predators of children are wrong.

In these two examples, I judge – and judge harshly – the enemies of love and children. I judge them as wrong, as dangerous, as evil.  I judge without apology, and without the urge to seek a path of acceptance for those who would stand against me. 

I guess I just see the reservation of judgment as a manifestation of apathy and weakness in some situations.

But I also believe in peace, decency, and respect.  And those beliefs (usually) keep me civil, even when faced with people I have judged as backwards or wrong.  There are things worth fighting for, and if the beliefs of others became a serious threat to me or my family or loved ones?  I would hold to my judgments, and fight for what I believe in.  But until someone’s opposing beliefs become a threat to me or the greater good, I am perfectly willing to interact with said person. 

But is my idea that many good and necessary things (eg. abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, etc.) have come about as a result of this judging system simply an excuse allowing me to keep judging?  Maybe.  I’m open-minded enough to admit that I might not have it right to think it’s okay to judge and judge BIG in some situations.  I might be very wrong.  All I can say is it FEELS very right to believe so deeply in certain things that I refuse to grant acceptance to those who may oppose me.  It feels pure and brave and right.

I wonder if I am so deeply confused to have mixed up feelings of purity with those of a bigotry.  Hrm…  I would really be the dangerous one then, wouldn’t I?  I guess that’s what it comes down to.  These feelings I have, about things like love and children, are the same feelings others have had about things most people would consider sick and evil… Interesting.

When we look in our blogging mirrors, are we happy with the image we see reflected in it?

Yes.  So far, so good.

and lastly……….if we had to be the change we wish to see in the world, what small steps can we take to embody that change?

More than I am doing now.  Always more than I am doing now.

Thank you, M:e.  You are insightful, eloquent, and thought-provoking, always.