Friday, September 21, 2012

Is Blogging a Waste of Time?

          

Over the Back Fence


Women talking over a fence Bert Hardy/Getty Images

My mother used to spend part of each day, more or less, chatting over the back fence to one or more of her neighbours.   My husband remembers his mother doing likewise.   I'm pretty sure their mothers would have done the same.   Back then - and it was really not so very long ago - fences were almost always about waist high, so you could easily see one another, and have something to lean yourself, or your basket of washing, against.


I suppose that these women would discuss their children and husbands, a television show they had enjoyed, cooking and recipes, their housework and homemaking tips, world events and local news, and their personal thoughts about Life, etc.   Over the back fence you could admire a new baby, exclaim over how much little Jonny had grown, and be invited in to see the new lounge suite.  





gypsypearlstudio.com


When our children were little I had a close neighbour whose brother commited suicide.  I think she and I spent at least half of all our weekly daylight hours together after that, for at least six months, at her place or mine, while our children played and I mostly just listened while she talked it all through; enough for her to come to terms with what had happened.  


Then six-foot high wooden paling fences gradually divided our properties, and women began to go out to work more and more anyway, and to stay home with children less and less.  Those who were still at home began to stay inside more too - enticed by  larger, more comfortable homes and colour TV's and year-round air-conditioning.  Women who did stay at home were in danger of becoming isolated, lonely, and sometimes depressed.  




exohuman.com


(I've always thought that Motherhood and Homemaking as a profession, if you will, is not for the faint-hearted.  I remember how keenly I would clean and tidy every morning, and how I was the only one, aside from our beautiful children, who ever saw the bathroom in all its perfection - before the four o'clock bathing tsunamis that drenched all the surfaces I had shined so assiduously that morning!  No one is ever going to come along to a hard-working mother and say: "Wow, You have been doing such a Great Job that I am going to give you a Promotion, and a well-deserved Raise!   Nope.  You have to really believe in what you are doing yourself.  But there is still nothing else that I would rather have been doing.   What is helpful though, is to have some understanding, encouraging and supportive friends to share the ride with...  )


Most blogging Mums I know, (admittedly, not a gigantic number), worry to some extent about the time that it takes to blog and to 'blog-stalk'.  'Is it a waste of time?', we guiltily wonder.  I'd like to throw this thought out there, as an answer to those worries:   Through blogging we are merely re-introducing, with a modern take,  the cameraderie our mothers and grand-mothers enjoyed quite naturally and happily over the back fence everyday.  Everyone knew that you weren't supposed to be outside nattering all day; but the usual amount of chit-chat was seen as a positive and emotionally healthful endeavour.  I think it still is.  




freewebs.com



I like that women have a new way to connect; a way that suits our lives and modern living constraints.  

(Of course, a one-sided conversation with yourself doesn't do so very much to alleviate feelings of alone-ness, or add as much as it could in the way of encouragement or understanding either, so I think it's always nice to leave a comment on people's blogs too :)







PS




While looking for a picture to illustrate depression, I came across this photograph...



Today we feature the famous picture of the woman of the Great Depression. The photograph was taken in 1936 by Dorothea Lange. This picture has become synonymous with the Great Depression.
Photographed by Dorothea Lange


The caption read:  

'Migrant Mother 1936 This California farm worker, age 32, had just sold her tent and the tires off her car to buy food for her seven kids. The family was living on scavenged vegetables and wild birds.' 


I know it's really another post, but this photo..   


Gratitude
for what we have today.




11 comments:

  1. Excellent Post Mum!
    (I kind of wish I lived in the 'over the fence' days...)

    xo Tammy

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  2. Oh I love this!! :) Except I don't think your mother or her mother were discussing TV shows they enjoyed... :) I love that first photo - it totally makes me want to go back to those times as well :) And I agree :) xo

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  3. Great Post! I love blogs :) It is a great, informative world, as long as you don't spend too much time on them :)

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  4. I love this. I was just sitting here thinking about how I wish I lived in the 'over the back fence' days too or that it happened these days and I had to admit to myself that I'm pretty terrible with the whole social thing. I have not made a single effort to get to know any of my neighbours. If I pass them I just give a little smile and keep walking. There's even a young couple who live opposite us who have a young daughter I think, but I've never made any effort.
    I guess I can sit here feeling like I'd love those 'old days' where neighbours talked and knew each other or I can go and create those experiences.

    Very sad about the mother in the last photo. I have a lot of respect for her.

    Much love!! xo :)

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