To Blog or Not to Blog (You know the rest...)

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately... I agree, for me that is always a dangerous proposition but hey, what the hell you gonna do? If I reflect carefully on how this happened I think it all started with some serious "discussions" with a friend who also happens to be a colleague. But to make this less cryptic, let me give a little background.

Donald (not his real name... I know, chicken shit... I admit it) and I got into some very heated discussions about current events. I was trying to point out how difficult it is to deal with people who are fanatical about their religious position especially fanatical Muslims or Christians. This discussion came about due to the news that I had in the newspaper next to us that the Taliban had gained control of areas that are only 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Without too much more detail, I agreed with him that our dealings with the Taliban have been pretty lacking in wisdom in the past ( we support them against the Soviet Empire but leave them out in the cold developmentally after the soviets leave in '89... bad move). Then I tried to point out to him that it was entirely within reason to suppose that the Taliban would take the capital of Pakistan within a few years if nothing was done to help the Pakistani government.

     He was adamant that would never happen because it was "too secular a society" and "the Taliban are not a real organized group and as such not a threat." Further he said that in essence we were reaping what we had sown and that only talking with these people would help the situation. Now to be honest, these may all be valid points ( he still wouldn't take my $20 bet that Islamabad would fall in 5 years... chicken shit!) but that's not what struck me so hard.... it was the extreme pacifist vitriol that was spewing (yup... spewing ) out of him that slightly shocked me. The "I'm right and nothing you can say will change my mind" type of fanatical froth seething out of every orifice was just too much. It reminded me of the First Law of the Fanatic which states, "When you obsess over the enemy, you become the enemy."

My head has been swimming ever since that encounter. I thought I knew the man... I was wrong. But now, I have had some time to analyze the encounter and it has left me with two conclusions: [1] I have been an apologist for my friends failings and not brave enough to forcefully confront him about them and [2] I am being driven by such encounters to blog more and, as such, get my blog read by a larger audience than the two people who  follow me right now (and you, my faithful readers are much appreciated!). Yet, I have a problem of psychic or psychotic proportions to overcome (take your pick).... while working I have little time to contemplate the weighty flow of the Universe often enough to write each day with wit, originality, and consistency. And so, I come to that famous question first posed by Shakespeare's Hamlet (modified for my own purposes): To Blog or Not to Blog... 

Write me friends and give me your feedback: Write more or just keep on doing what I've been doing OR keep on doing it just more often. As for my friend and my cowardice in not confronting him, from a purely tactical P.O.V. I know that he will be retiring to another country by the end of the calendar year so the cost-benefit analysis just doesn't add up to any long term benefit in that course of action. Next time, he spews like he did I will just have to get up and walk away; cut my loses and go. As for my blogging, I await you sage feedback... Take care.