You made a very good point, DireMirth. “We have come to live in a culture where we are made to feel guilty over our accomplishments.” It seems like on the one hand we’re either feeling guilty about our accomplishments OR we’re perhaps a bit too puffed-up and boastful about our accomplishments. Reminds me of something a wise man once told me: We either have the highest opinion of ourselves, or the lowest. (But perhaps rarely an honest opinion)

I don’t know, maybe I’m once again getting off on a different tangent.

But I’ve seen a lot of great comments so far. And I just wanted to add one more so that people would think I was smart and thoughtful, like famous people.

But there’s just a part of me that has to know what Tom Cruise just said about Germany, or what Dwight Schrute chronicled in his latest post, or who Bill Belichick just pissed off in his press conference, or what Steve Jobs thinks about Bill Gates. There’s something about fame, good or bad, that is entertaining.

I also want to say that you should never feel guilty about your accomplishments. If people didn’t share the knowledge they’ve acquired throughout their lives, we would still be in the stone age. But, as you put it well, do it because you want to share your knowledge with others, not because you want to make others envious.

When you think about it, your accomplishments are really only made possible because of God, so you shouldn’t get too wrapped up in the “Look what I did!” mindset. But still take credit where credit is due, I think there’s nothing wrong with that.

First, I absolutely agree that blog-bragging is an internet phenomena. I’ve struggled with it a bit myself in the past. You know, when you sit down to write a post you think. Who is going to read this? Do I really have anything to say? Does my opinion matter? Do I sound arrogant or biased? Usually, I have to chock it up to an “I don’t know, but here goes.” This sort of moves into my point, which is, that bloggers are inherently a bit boastful. Sure, not a lot of folks may read the blog, but that fact that you are putting it out there for the world to do with it what it pleases is somewhat indicative, I think, of an absence of modesty. If we simply wanted to chronicle our lives for our own benefit we would pull a Doogie Houser or buy a journal. Maybe even a lock. Jot the thoughts down and be happy that we just got them out of our heads. Perhaps we would revisit them one day…perhaps not. Blogging is a different thing all together. It’s like mixing a journal with all of those emails that you send to your friends during the day that everyone replies to a hundred times. Usually moving from an interesting quote in a news story to a “quote-off” from The Office. That’s kind of what I like about blogging. It’s more risky than old-school journaling. You get to put your thoughts out there, see what other people think, read, reply, rinse, repeat, and still find time to quote The Office.

For the folks out there who do brag in their blogging…maybe they need to be called out, or see a decline in readership. I think your right, those posts are not the most fun to read. Yet, I think this point has us all dancing a dangerous line…see point two.

My second thought from reading your post is that we have come to live in a culture where we are made to feel guilty over our accomplishments. To speak out about what we have done, or share our experiences suddenly moves from a transfer of knowledge (which is good) into bragging. Often times I will find myself censoring what I write because I don’t want to sound arrogant. This can be as big as talking about the places I’ve traveled, to something as seemingly harmless as my vocabulary (big words turn some folks off). I feel like this can also be seen to some extent in political elections and entertainment. We want to have people in office who are just like us. We no longer want scripted, plotted, well conceived TV dramas or comedy’s. We would rather watch the latest version of I love New York or some other such mindless nonsense. I digress, I have left my intended track. In summation of this point, I think there are people out there who are boastful in a negative way. At the same time, I think there are people out there who have done and do some pretty incredible things. I hope the feel proud enough to share them with us. Not in a vain attempt to brag, but an honest endeavor to share knowledge.

Lastly, you mentioned in point 4 that people who were famous were exempted from the bragging list. I must humbly disagree. I think fame is often an excuse for ill informed people to spout off personal ideas ad nauseam. Personally, I would rather read what you have to say, or the other folks who I know and respect who write their ideas down and offer them up to the great bloggospghere. But then I was never one to think fame was a reason for me to bend an ear…you’ve got to earn it. Make me want to read. Make me think.

I also think blogs (and commenting on blogs) is not for everyone. Some people don’t like to share their lives with the entire cosmos. I tend to be in that camp, which is why I try not to write too much about my personal life. Not that there’s anything wrong with that though.

It comes down to who your audience is. Are you writing for yourself or are you writing for other people’s enjoyment? I think once you know the answer to that question, you can start answering the other ones.

Personally, I love posting to my blog, so I guess that means I’m writing for myself. However, when I think about it even more, I realize that the only reason I love it is because of the possibility of other people reading it. So what does that mean?!?