Why this blog?

So…why start this blog? What could I possibly say that hasn’t been stated time and again already?

Well, I’m in my mid-40s. I’ve never kept a diary. I’ve never really committed my thoughts to paper (or electrons, in this case). I think that I have a good deal to say, and I think that all of us (myself foremost) have a good deal to hear.

But I’m not suggesting that I’m writing for others to read; instead, I’m writing for me to speak. (If you want to queue up a “If a tree falls…” joke here, go for it. I’ve certainly made it easy enough for you.) Your reading it is just a bonus to me.

The title of this blog should clue you in as to my main motivation for finally writing. I’ve had the privilege of a lot of education and, thanks to my parents and some key friends and colleagues, I’ve even had the privilege of learning. Virtually everything I know has been because—to ape Newton—I’ve “stood upon the shoulders of giants.”

One thing in particular that I have had the privilege of learning has been research methodology. Even better, I’ve had the privilege of teaching research methodology. And if there’s one thing that Facebook and Twitter have taught me, it’s that people have no idea how research works.

Over the last few years, I’ve privately seethed as I’ve read the relentless parade of stupid through social media. I’ve had a…well…“quiet contempt,” if you will.

One of my favorite passages in Scripture recounts Jesus’ driving the money changers from the temple. One prevailing narrative describes Jesus’ “righteous anger.” Well, of course He was angry. John records that His actions reminded the disciples that “it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (John 2:17).

But I find another phrase earlier in the story to be quite enlightening. In verse 15, John writes, “And when he had made a scourge of small cords…” In other words, the Divine Example basically sat down and took His time preparing His response to the situation. So…was Jesus angry? Yes. Was He in an uncontrollable rage? Absolutely not.

My prayer is that that theme will remain throughout this blog. While I doubt I’ll ever physically—or even proverbially—use a whip, I hope to spend all my time preparing it. But keep in mind that I intend for it to remain my “whip.” By that, I mean that I hope no one ever uses what I write to try to browbeat others. It is intended only for the education of the reader. Frankly, it is also for my own education. As a teacher, I’ve learned so well the adage that you will never understand anything so well as when you try to explain it for yourself. Thus, my feeble attempts to put my feeble thoughts into feeble words is mostly for me to organize for myself the myriad of ideas spinning around in my head. Having others read what I write gives me added incentive to get it correct as best as I can.

And thus we get to the end of this introduction. Why am I writing? For me. To help me put my thoughts into words and hopefully to leave some of what I’ve acquired over the years to my kids and their eventual families. If you choose to join me on this personal journey of mine, I’m glad to have you along. If you don’t join me, does that really change anything? Of course not. It’s not as if you’d read anything of mine before anyway. Besides, there are likely far safer places to explore than what is going on in my head.