Boundaries- Things You Can’t Write About

“Sane and intelligent human beings are like all other human beings, and carefully and cautiously and diligently conceal their private real opinions from the world and give out fictitious ones in their stead for general consumption.”
Mark Twain
“I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts.”
Mark Twain
“Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinions in good men is but knowledge in the making.”
John Milton

Listen closely and you’ll hear the echoes of the words that once lived upon this page. Less than two minutes ago there were 659 words residing here on my screen. Those 659 words told a story…poorly and consequently paid the price for their poor construction. So though it filled me with some dismay I nuked them one and all.

There are boundaries in blogging but the lines that demarcate those boundaries are not uniform nor will they ever be. Those lines are based upon subjective decisions that the authors work out with themselves and others. Sometimes they evolve over time…mine have.

But there is a distinction between establishing boundaries and choosing not to write about topics. I mention this because someone asked why I don’t write about politics and religion anymore. The answer I gave them is that I haven’t given up on those. They don’t exist behind one of the imaginary lines I mentioned earlier.

In theory it might be smarter not to write about them because they can cause trouble. There is a certain amount of acrimony sometimes arises from such things. And in theory if I want to build a community than acrimony isn’t really what I want, or at least not for the community I am thinking of.

But that is not really what has slowed those posts down. The blame for that lies in a lack of interest on my part. I haven’t felt a need or reason to write about those things but I expect that it won’t be long before I do so again.

Some of those posts turn out to be my favorites because they have led to much learning and growth and that is always welcome.