Byrnesys Blabberings

"There is something noble and great about writing. Writing forces you to decide what you think and what you believe. Writing also helps others to decide what they think and believe - through their agreement or disagreement with what you said." - Fighting to Stay Awake

(Shawn Blanc’s post below is excellent and can be found at the link above but rather than dwell on his post below are some of my thoughts that the above quote triggered)

Decisions, Decisions

I like this, that is to say, I agree, having to decide has been a common experience for me as Ive blogged over the last 2 to 3 years. Even if that decision ended up being indecision you have to strike a line in order to write anything, of course the posts of indecision were often not the best in terms of content but they were still statements.

Dont Knock it until you’ve tried it

Great!, Whats so great about statements? I hear you say. Well I subscribe (in broad terms) to the idea that don’t knock someone for doing something until you’ve tried it, or words to that effect. Often our western culture is so used to observe, commenting and criticising when in fact the bold and nobleness belongs to the person on the race track, the decision maker, the record breaker, not those who just observe. Now I really don’t want to blow blogging out of proportion, is it noble on the scale of one who gives their life for a great cause, of course not, but its all about approach.

Approach Theory

Have you ever heard, if you’re faithful in the small things you’ll be faithful in the big things, I think this was one aspect of what Jesus was trying to say when he told the parable of the talents. If we begin to "stand" in the small things we will create a reaction in ourselves from a discipline. When I say stand I don’t mean take a stand in some aggresive argumentative sense, but I mean if we enter into the debate, even if we are wrong, we have entered in. This whole approach is brilliantly summed up by a quote from Theoore Roosevelt that I heard from my good friend John Gillespie a while back.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910