I've been blogging for some 6 months maybe a little more and commenting on other's blogs for over a year. Save for Neil McKenty and Le Bourlingueur I have never met face to face with the people I share my thoughts with. Yet they have taught me me many things.
From Neil and the Commentator I learned that a blog can be a political tool to promote one's points of views be they left or right leaning. Discussing on Neil's and Commentator's,(or Alessandro) I have been confronted with people I would not spontaneously have been inclined to deal with...but have learned to accept as they are...and respect their ideas without suscribing to them.
Abe Lincoln has shown me, but he is unaware of it, to use pictures. They are a potent tool to convey one's feelings and moods. Erin has put me in contact with a type of poetry I can get in tune with and I thank her for that.
Café Philos has reconciled me with philosophy and introspection and Rosaria has shown me how you can go back on your personal life and story without being preachy nor boastful.
Man of Roma has rekindled my love for history and the humanities he even woke up the slumbering latinist in me. Besides, through his correspondants I slowly become more aware of how people think in India, Japan, China and other Oriental places. What an enrichment.
From my old friend and colleague, Jean-Guy le Bourlingueur, I have learned that when a Westerner gets immersed in India, he forgets to keep up with his blog. Must be the atmosphere out there.
Quid agis Paulus?
RépondreSupprimerThank you for mentioning me among the people you've met in the web. It is an honour Paul. You are a valuable man. And a sage.
You're writing on the web for over a year ... why don't you collect the things you wrote here and there and post them or just keep them? Many were very good, personal, intellectual, empathetic.
As for blogs and the Web, what strikes me is that one makes friends, talks with them for months, even years, but it is only word & mind communication - no bodies, no gestures nor facial expressions. It is not physical. How unusual. It makes one think how terrific language communication, words are.
It happened to me to meet people known via the Internet. Even when the person is better than you thought, even when he/she well corresponds to the picture you had in mind, it is sooo strange.
[non mi riferisco ad incontri 'galanti' Paul, ma solo ad incontri ... clarum sit]
Yes, one learns a lot from one another. From you and from the Commentator, for example, I have learned so much about Canada and North America. And from you I have started again with my French. Now I love it even more than before. This Germanic language is never totally satisfying to me. There is something chilly about it, chilly to a Latin heart, I mean. I wonder if it is the same with you. But it is also a beautiful language. It is so poetic.
Paul, I never introduced you to a Japanese, I'm pretty sure about it. Potrei giurarlo sulle mie figlie.
Ah, when a westerner gets lost in India - not the awful hippie way, of course.
Btw, is Jean-Guy married?
:-)
Nunc est mihi festinandum
Jean-Guy was married, two sons and a grand-father to boot.
RépondreSupprimerWas? You mean he lost his wife? I'm sorry for him.
RépondreSupprimerI met you at Manofroma. Both of you get into lively discussions that are so interesting. While we never met, and we may not even recognize each other at an airport, we are constantly learning about the things that matter to the other.
RépondreSupprimerp.s. glad to know that you follow Erin's poetry.
@MoR: they have parted some years ago but are still good friends. And Jean-Guy is not on a hippie trip, he is volunteering for an orphanage finaced by Camadians.
RépondreSupprimer@Rosaria: I followed your advice to go read Erin...and I liked what I saw however troubling it may, at times, be.
@Rosaria
RépondreSupprimerI think I would recognise you at an airport perhaps: I've seen many pictures of you. I went read Erin too. I like her poetry.
@Paul
I like her daring.
Glad I can be of some service to someone on this planet.
RépondreSupprimerI must profess, you're the third of fourth blogger who mentions my blog in this manner. It's quite humbling. For me, writing is quite simply a passion.
@Commentator
RépondreSupprimerKeep the passion in both your writing and your thinking; even when I disagree it prompts some reflexion and that is very good.
@Commentator
RépondreSupprimerI'll tell you, you have helped me to think and to learn quite a lot.
And now Commentator is all disgruntled and thinks he is useless. Some people just can't accept gratifications.
RépondreSupprimerI tried some shock therapy with him, like you did with me: C'MON, WHAT HAS BITTEN YOU TODAY MAN?
RépondreSupprimerBut he didn't reply, he prefers posting like mad.
And you said 'I' was logorrheic.