Littering the blogosphere

Often I want to write here but fear I have nothing substantive to say. Cute grandbaby photos are popular with friends, but I didn't set out to create an online photo album. I'm a writer, dammit. Shouldn't I have more words in me?

Curiously, I'm seldom at a loss when it comes to leaving comments on other people's blogs. I love jumping in with my perspective on an interesting event or idea advanced by someone else. Today, for example, I very much enjoyed Rabbi Neil Fleischmann's meditation on the things we leave unsaid. He inspired me to leave this comment:

To me, what we leave unsaid is the essence of loneliness. What we cannot share isolates us in the universe, a human circumstance that is frightening and humbling. The idea of G-d helps to assuage the awful chilling isolation. If we have Him, our thoughts, our inner self, are shared by default. Maybe that too is a slightly scary thought! ;-)

The Anne-Critic that lives in my brain asks, "So, why aren't you coming up with good stuff like Neil? and Ian? and Mary? and Helen Jane? (I'll stop there; the list goes on.) Why are you only the smart-aleck who fires off zingy ripostes, not the original thinker?

If I can throttle the critic-at-large long enough, I may be able to appreciate my talent as a reactor. After I encounter a provocative idea, I turn it over in my mind and see what shakes loose. Then I post my reaction. In person, this would further a conversation and perhaps send it in unanticipated directions. Not so much online, although some of my favorite bloggers do respond to comments.

You may never read any Great Thoughts here. (Laughing at the very idea!) But the Web has snared hundreds of comments I've tossed into cyberspace. When someone's words touch me, I reach back and affirm the connection.