First Year

Well, I’ve been blogging for almost a year now. I’ve learned a lot!

About me:

• I don’t know as much as I thought I did.
• I knew I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew, but now I know I knew even less than that! (Say that ten times while drunk).
• I’m a bit of a lazy writer. I am embarrassed to admit it, but it is true. I wrote a few good posts, but too many are just paragraphs with links.
• I don’t say everything I want to because I am afraid someone will use my commentary out of context. For example, I have many questions about our President that are unanswered but I tend to stick to the positive because the attitude “out there” is so negative and I don’t want to fuel the “Anti-Bush” movement with my doubts and questions.
• My command of grammar, spelling, logic and writing has declined significantly since high school. This is embarrassing and discouraging.

About Blogging:

• Writing good posts takes a lot of time and work.
• Writing poor posts or “lame” ones is really easy.
• The discussion with those who disagree is more interesting than with those who agree. Maybe that is why political “cross-fire” type shows are so popular. If we agree, what more is there to say than “thanks?” Yet I find myself afraid of inviting a lop-sided crowd that opposes my ideas to the discussion as well.
• It is really tempting to start gearing oneself to get readers, rather than to write good posts.
• It is hard to stick to the original vision and purpose of this blog!
• It is hard to stay civil and stick to the type of discussion I value. The temptation and tendency to join the”dark side” which is more interested in labeling and putting down opponents than content is stronger than I thought. For the record, the “dark side” does not refer to a political persuasion but to the generally divisive nature of political discussion. The world views out there are so different and in some cases incompatible that it is difficult to have relevant discussion! It is easy to mock and insult.
• The world of political discussion on the internet is more brutal and antagonistic even than a family gathering! (Is such a thing possible?) Sometimes it seems that the goal is to “defeat” ones opponent instead of to have challenging and useful discussion. I hope I haven’t gotten sucked into this. God help me! (I know He will) I have learned this via Digg.com and other blogs more than at my own. Most people here (even those who disagree with me) have kept things civil for the most part.)
• I am not sure what to do about ads on my blog. I have experimented with Google Adsense, etc. but haven’t made hardly anything with it. I was hoping to just recover the costs of my webhost and domain names but have not come even close. Perhaps I’ll just delete them all. I don’t know.

Future goals (I don’t know when I will be able to attain them):

• Write fewer yet higher quality posts.
• Write more posts with content relevant to the main purpose of the blog – “freedom ideas.”
• Learn how to do more quality research.
• You know, I’d almost like to take a Journalism class at a Community College to see what I could learn.
• Come up with a decent comment policy and learn what to allow and what not to. So far I pretty much allow everything and almost no-one has written anything too nasty anyways. 🙂

Thank you to all who visit here and have joined me on my Freedom Journey! I genuinely thank those who have consistently read and commented and I truly include those who do not agree with my perspective. The Bible talks about “Iron sharpening Iron” and I need sharpening! The vast majority of my discussions before blogging involved people who were significantly less informed than myself. I am enjoying and growing from the challenge of the blogosphere! I believe it will make me a better man with a clearer mind in the long run.

For now I am in Australia and the network I am using is a dial-up network shared by dozens of people. I can no longer download and use quality pictures in my posts! Yikes! So I am not sure how the next three months will look. I may or may not be able to do much.

If you visit this site I would strongly urge you to also check out the categories that are not necessarily political commentary. Some of the ideas stuff is better.

I remain dedicated to the basic idea that God desires humans to be free in their hearts, and also desires that they live in a free society. Internal Freedom and External Freedom. I know that if we can make people who are free on the inside (starting with myself!) we can produce a society with more freedom externally as well. Freedom can filter into business, education, arts, family, government, and all areas!

I am still Thirsty to be Truly Free! I want the same for my children and their children.

I am beginning to understand what it means to Thirst for Liberty! Freedomthirst!

Thank you for joining me in my Quest!

In Jesus,

ThirstyJon