Begin the Begin

by Cody Kilgore

Hi. My name is Cody. I am a single father, a runner, and a writer.

All of that may, or may not, matter no more to you than anything else you read here, and it barely scratches the surface of any description that aptly portrays me. If I were to add some depth to that, I guess I would also say that I am a lifetime Midwesterner, still in my forties, solidly upper-middle income earner (what the…?), a thinker, well traveled, and liberal.

There. That’s a little better. I could probably go on with a great deal more, things that I would like you to know about me, but I won’t for now. It’s not that important at this particular moment.

The reason why I give you all that is to give you a basis for understanding my perspective, and perspective is key here. When Paul (The Muller) and I first discussed the idea of this group blog, what we had in mind was a conversation by people of different backgrounds and perspectives. We thought it would be interesting to discuss and read what different people might say on a given topic as viewed through their own personal prism.

My personal preference, which is so because it is the central theme of most of my writing, is that we would be writing about the human experience, the things I believe are common to many, if not all of us, but are experienced and viewed only slightly differently from each other because of our unique experiences and perceptions. But, I think we are going to hit on a wide range of topics, within and outside of that range I intended, and I think that will be just as interesting to read and discuss as well. No sense in limiting ourselves.

My experience in blogging is but a few months old, and was out of necessity more than anything. I had a relative who refused to get on Facebook—where I was publishing all of my essays—and they asked me to find a more public outlet where they could read my work. So I started a blog, which is simply a mirror posting of those essays from Facebook.

But, in looking around at the work of other bloggers, I came across Paul, who is also a contemplative person (a muller!) and expresses himself and his thoughts well. Soon, we were connected on Facebook, commenting on each other’s posts, and growing as friends. I think we discovered things we had in common, things other than our writing. But that’s my take; Paul may tell you differently.

I have met others in blogosphere, most of whom are casual acquaintances, but connections nonetheless, and when I think about Paul and those others I have met, I begin to understand why it is I have gotten more involved in blogging than I initially intended, and in this project. It is a way for me to connect. And I am betting that same thing motivates so many other bloggers as well.

We are naturally social creatures. Without the nurturing that human contact offers us, we can be deprived of the stimuli necessary to enrich and develop us, and thus become very base and even cruel creatures. Solitary, we cease to care for ourselves and care for others in any balanced manner. We marginalize people (and other living things), dehumanize them. Things get out of whack. Hence—in my humble opinion—the explosion of social networking and blogging. It’s people reaching out to people, not simply people wanting to be seen. The internet has made it that much easier.

One of the things I have learned in my study of literature is that the writer always has a motive, and the most primary motive of all is that of connection with the reader. It takes many forms; it can be manipulative, guiding, explorative, enlightening, provocative, insulting, supportive, or simply amusing. But, there is always authorial intent in some form or fashion, and never is that intent to distance the reader from the writer. It is always intended, in the end, to connect.

People whose blogs are seemingly only a peek into their daily lives are doing much more than that; they are sharing their experience, hoping that it is of enough interest to you to at least take the time to read it. And each and every comment they receive in response to their writing is an affirmation of their life they are allowing you into, and a shared and common experience between you. It is fulfillment of that implied contract between reader and writer, where the two meet mutually in thought and experience. One validates the other.

So I no longer snub my nose at the blogosphere. I understand. And I understand because I took the time to try, which is one of the great hopes I have for this little experiment we have started. I was once given some great advice from a friend who quoted to me “seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Those few words have been important to me in my recent years. They have helped me learn a great many things about others, but, even more importantly, they have helped me learn a great many things about myself. I look forward to this blog being an opportunity for me to see some things through the eyes of others. I think it will be interesting.

I hope others will find it interesting as well, and that some will find it interesting enough to want to join in. I think the architects of this experiment (I dare only to speak for myself) hope that we can welcome in others, of any faith, sex, sexual preference, background, socioeconomic status, geographic location…anything that defines us and our experience. Diversity is the spice of life, and I hope this blog reflects that.

So many words for such a small purpose. Let’s go back.

Hi. My name is Cody.