Grace, Kelli

In an email from/to Circus Kelli this morning, I was struck by how bloggers are, on the whole, a very tolerant, generous, patient and forgiving lot. Apparently we use only a fraction of our true capacity for grace in many of the real-world interactions that frame our lives -- rather like the fabled lion's share of our brain power -- because the world I see out my front door only rarely displays the same breadth and depth of compassion and acceptance I have witnessed here in the blogosphere. In the real world, it's the sort of thing that shows up only around tragedies of vast proportions like the WTC collapse, Hurricane Katrina, or the tsunami that destroyed Phuket.

But the blogosphere? It's a whole 'nuther planet. When one blogger faces hardship, countless others rally around, helping, donating, fund-raising, sending cookies and just in general offering support to the wounded one. When a blogger gets writer's block or their schedule is overwhelmed, the rest quickly offer clemency and pardon for neglected posts and unsent comments, sometimes even guest-posting for one another to fill the void. If one gets trolled, we circle the wagons. And if one has trouble with self-acceptance, others often repeatedly offer observations (to greater or lesser degrees of accuracy) and encouragement that can help alter the way we see ourselves. Race, gender, sexual orientation, differences and disagreements all matter less here.

Amazing.

Thanks Kelli, for making me think, making me laugh, and giving me a topic to post.