Thought I would do a meta diary for Independence Day, hee hee.
There are many here who write diaries that do not get recommended and I have often read of their frustration and can sympathize with it. To work so hard on a piece of writing only to see it scroll sadly down the screen, with maybe one or two comments, and not even have it rescued by SusanG, well it hardly seems worth it, one would think.
Think again. I have virtually lost count of the number of diaries I have read here at Daily Kos. Many of them I don't recommend or put comments on but that doesn't mean I find them of no value. I think there is another way to look at this situation.
Never forget that there are thousands of people who read this blog. Even if you feel that no one is listening, you are probably incorrect. If what you write is important to you, the odds are that someone else here feels it is important as well. What's that line in the Bible -- something about how you have to scatter a lot of seeds, and many won't sprout, but eventually one will. Well I've just butchered the Bible, but hopefully you get my drift.
And if you get three or four comments, well that is three or four people you have reached, and how do you know those people won't take what you have written and apply it in their own lives, in their own conversations? To me, that is hardly a waste.
Writing itself is a good thing! Getting your words out of your head is a healthy activity and I'll bet you end up with a much more clear picture of your own thoughts and conclusions than if you hadn't written them down. That increased clarity can translate itself into better conversations with people outside this blog and spread your influence on what you believe important even further.
One of the most important reasons for writing diaries is, I believe, the influence they have on other Kossaks. You may write a diary that gets little attention, but someone else may take away a thought from your diary, write one of their own and their diary will get recommended. If it is truly the issue you feel is important, and not that you get credit for it, that can be a great feeling, where you realize that you have contributed to many more people becoming educated on something that really matters to you.
There is a cumulative effect to the diaries at this site, I believe. We need all of them, even the goofy ones. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts and I believe everyone who writes a diary is contributing to that whole.
So sure, go for it and try to get your diary recommended. But please don't think that if it doesn't get recommended, what you have said doesn't matter. It matters to me, and I think I am not alone in that opinion.
Happy Independence Day, everyone!