Menosukhi; Gratitude

Do you know...  this time last week I was sitting with lots and lots of ideas about the thanks in my heart for not just Blogville, our little village of pet funsters, but for the wider space of Blogosphere.

Then there were two or three things of similar type which happened all at once, and that was followed by another couple of bloggers bringing up the themes of that on their posts and I began to wonder about the 'universal mind'; that thing which brings an alertness everyone experiences, but not everyone reveals.

Just as in the real world, en etiquette of sorts has developed in the etherworld. Perhaps not so much on the 'insti-things'; but here in the slower, more thoughtful place of the blogging, we generally find the places we want to linger and those places we wish to pass by in a hurry and can do so without too much bother. We can find the people of like mind and similar interests - or those from whom we wish to learn more about something, or whose take on life offers something to help us understand its complexities just that bit more.

There will be a group or groups in which we set up a dialogue through comments and occasionally in the background through emails. Every now and then, just as in real world, something will be taken out of context, or something will be said, which causes us to pause and to wonder.

Difficulty can lie in the printed word; the difficulty of conveying tone of voice. Something put here in black and white will, almost always, only be taken for the value of the letters contained and not the intention behind their grouping; unless there's a lot of preparatory language. Comments by their very nature require to be succinct (with a few exceptions here and there.) Whilst the onus is always on the communicator to be clear, it has to be accepted that not all who are on the 'hearing' end are going to receive the message in the same way. There can be those who are on an alert all of their own (for many reasons valid to themselves). Regardless of how clearly one has put something, if that 'en guarde' personality is looking for an argument, or to take offence, they will get/take it anyway.

Agreeing to disagree is an adult behaviour and it applies as much in the Blogosophere as it does in real world. Moving on without grudge or offence is an adult behaviour and it applies as much in the Blogosophere as it does in real world. To shield oneself from a potential threat in the real world requires quite a process of paperwork and intervention and is not always successful. In the Blogosphere it's as easy as hitting the 'block user' button and is 99.9% successful.

I have, thankfully, never had to do that with a blogger. I have had stern words with a couple of commenters whose language was not just offensive but also abusive, causing me to remove them. They listened; one apologised and still occasionally pops in for a polite word or two. The other took the hint. On the G+ platform though, I have had to block quite a few this year. Why?

They were men looking for anything other than intelligent dialogue. Then there was the surprise of finding, on the Disqus platform, (which I have to use in order to join in on a couple of favourite blogs), that some of my comments were 'upvoted' - by women of a certain profile, flaunting 'their wares'. When I find these, I take action by not just blocking but also reporting. In a world currently overflowing with raised awareness of abuses, I refuse to be used by women who are only adding fuel to the fire of animal desire.

Then there is the sitting here with the news of change in Zimbabwe, the conviction of war criminal Mladic and a UK which seems to have forgotten how privileged it really is.

What has all this to do with Thankful Thursday in Blogville? The fact that I have found you all and that you all like to spend time with me. That we know how to agree to disagree - and that it happens rarely because of that. I am grateful for the warmth of capital 'ell' Love and the true spirit of humanity which echoes through the etherwaves . As happens in real world, sometimes our friends move away, but I am grateful that new friends turn up in their place. Blogville is the stable centre of my online world and if, occasionally, around the boundaries things go a bit awry, I know that it's nothing to cry about or to draw down the shutters. I have a safe place here. There is support both on and off screen. My gratitude knows no bounds for the fact I have the strength, and have found the guides, to help me negotiate the complexities of the real world. That gratitude extends to the blogosphere and the people I have found here.

Would I exist without Blogville? Of course! Is life improved by that the part of my existence which is in Blogville? It is!