Blogging and Respect For Others

How did I actually start blogging?

About the last quarter of last year 2004, I was getting bored at work. AF2 was just over. My daughters, like other teenagers were into the Yahoo Group. Me being the mother, has got some "tentacles" out of my senses, worried that they might get into the wrong channels, but at the same time trying to understand their needs as teenagers. When the home PC was down, they gave me their password to check their e-mails. Because of that I discovered the blogs written for the AF students. Amongst the earliest that I went into was Javard (not knowing at that time he was my hubby's nephew). I like his writing, he supports someone I like in the AF2, I so keep on reading, and one day he posted about his aunty. It was too much a coincidence and I had to get a confirmation that he is my nephew. At that point I had not met him for 18 years. We met when I stopped by his mom's house during my honeymoon!!!. He had never met any of my daughters. So when we know for sure that Javard is my nephew, I have been going to his blog as frequent as I could, Because it means that I have a relation in the blogging world. Our communication has become very personal. Long before that I had been asking my hubby to pay a visit to Javard's home to meet his grandma, it was only last week that wish came true. I could not explain why I missed her so much, maybe I was thinking of arwah MIL.

At first I thought that blogging is just for the entertainment world (maklumlah makcik kampung kan, sempit sikit fikiran ni), because the same kind of bloggers seems to flock within the same community (Am I making sense here?). Then a colleague sent me via e-mail Pokku's Mujo entry. It was lawak sakan, so I asked where did he got it from and he gave me the url. At the same time, I also checked-out Badrul's blog and got to know him and his readers. One day, Joe posted a comment there and Badrul's reply had kind of sparked off my curiosity. People say curiosity kills the cat right? Perhaps that what happened, I got hooked. From Joe's blog I got to know many friends. When at first I thought only the young people blog, ( I consider myself old, so anyone younger than me is young), I began to know there are MakAndeh, Auntie Yan and Wynn who are within my age range. Still I could not bring myself to start a blog. Still procastinating because, although I know I can write, but can I handle the pressure? I could see how the readers usually pressure the writer for updates. Could I handle comments which may not be to my liking? Would it be just for me to retaliate to rude comments? I ni jenis yang straight to the point, tak suka beat around the bush so kalau aku cakap tu takut jugaklah pedas kat telinga orang tu. Nak kena berlapik sangat bercakap ni. Oleh kerana aku ni dah mature (veteran lah ni, tak nak mengaku tua dah) aku lebih banyak diam bila baca sesuatu yang aku tak suka.

Atenah said I was like the phantom, my nick was here and there but could not find my blog. Atenah actually said like she always do to others, AuntyN start a blog lah!! Redah saja lah kata dia tu, when I told her I hadn't got the courage to start a blog. Yes, I was kind off scared at first for those reasons above. I have been reading her blog but could not comment at that point since she did not allow anoynamous comment. Kakak tu (nak panggei makcik takut kena marah ni!!!)kata dia buta IT. I sort of promised her that when I start a blog I would let her be the one to "cut the ribbon" which I did. The rest is history, I get to know so many others, people like Kak Teh, Mutiara, Omar and the others (sorry there are too many of you to mention one by one).

I enjoy reading blogs and I enjoy writing one. I find connection with the other bloggers. Happy when they write about happy things, shed tears when the entry touched my heart. Feel the emotion that the blogger is trying to potray in his/her way through their writings. Each blogger has his/her own reason for blogging, many are their life experiences, it is difficult (at least for me) not to put something personal in the entry. How much we try to generalise, there is something of yourself there in the entry, in the blog. There are lots of things one can learn from these entries. Of course there are some craps too, but at least we learn not to be a crap right?

I feel sad and angry when some people post viscious or rude comment to an entry. Worse still if by that action had cause the demise of the blog or an unwarranted ill feelings between bloggers. Someone said to me that a blog is like our garden, what we plant in there is what we like to have in that garden, so how do we react when someone trample all over your garden? And since the garden is in the open space, can't we just try to enjoy the beautiful scenery without being critical on how the owner organise his/her garden? Or if we don't like the garden, just leave it. Who knows that blogger may be someone close to you, how would you react in that situation?

There is no guidelines for blogging but as a human being a little respect for an individual goes a long way. Whether we have met that person or not, I believe that there is always a reaction to every action. Nazrah has written a lot on this, I don't want to say more, her pot-pet is enough to send the message across. Please read her entry titled "Does Not Hurt To Be Nice"