Levantine Dreamhouse is One Year Old

Yes, yet another one year blog anniversary. Indulge me... It helps to step back and take stock of one's work.

I wrote my first blog post in mid December of last year, saved it, but did not publish it until early January of 2006 because I was uncertain if I wanted get into blogging. I did not know if I had the desire, the commitment or the stamina to do it. Would there be enough to write about? Would anybody read it or would anybody care? After all, there are numerous examples of abandoned blogs floating in the ether of world wide web.

I started because I wanted to add my voice to a discussion that I followed with interest, one that was developing among bloggers from within and outside Syria. It was a discussion about change, evolution and advancement of a country that was in a state of near arrested development for over forty years. It was also a chance to “talk” about subjects that I felt passionate about, a chance I rarely got here in apolitical middle America, where politics is rarely the subject of polite conversation. Telling someone that you are from Syria usually invoked a blank unknowing stare and you move on to talk about the weather or sports.

The key to sustainable blogging is finding your balance. This balance is achieved by defining what your expectations are of the blog, and how much time you can devote to it. In the end, it has to reflect who you are, if not it feels and sounds contrived. I set out to write about politics, culture and religion in Syria and the region, subjects that are closely intertwined and of crucial importance to the future of the region. Not having professional training in any of the three disciplines, I could never pretend to have inside information or insights that no one else had. Whatever I write reflects my own –hopefully educated- opinions based on personal experience and what I read; I cannot pretend otherwise. Blogging has been an intellectual outlet for me regardless of how few or how many people read what I write. The exercise of trying to put one’s thoughts in writing forces you to organize your thoughts so that they are logical and reasoned. This is especially true in discussions of politics. Shrill postings full of clever put downs may bring you cheers of approval from those who share you opinion and indignant rebuttals from those don’t but it will never generate thoughtful consideration of what is being said. The same rule applies to comments left in response to a post. Comments ought to be measured and reasonable or they will unavoidably degenerate into shouting matches. Being civil will cost you traffic on your blog as the general blogging public prefers virtual fistfights to civil discourse. Don’t get me wrong, I too enjoy an occasional verbal fistfight, but I prefer to watch it on someone else’s blog.

What surprised me about blogging is how intimately acquainted with other bloggers one can become. Personalities are revealed in great detail by the content and the tenor of what is written. One particular post from an inimitable Tartousi was particularly revealing to me. This post, about tolerance and respect of other faiths should be required reading for all in the region from Lebanon to Iraq. Another surprise is how in this infinitely vast blogosphere, old acquaintances can connect by pure chance. Fate had it that the Syrian Brit and I launched our blogs within days of each other last January. As we read each other’s posts, it became clear that we had much in common and it then became clear that our paths did indeed cross some twenty four years ago.

Having found my balance I can continue to blog with little effort (Um Kareem may disagree on that last point). More importantly, I will continue to blog because of the positive feedback and encouragement I get from other bloggers for whom I have deep respect. If the Syrian blogs I have frequented are in a any way representative of the Syrian people as a whole, then I am very optimistic about our future. I am proud of the company I keep.