Image by fisserman via FlickrThe Deja Vu Blogfest is hosted by D.L. Hammons, Katie Mills, Nicole Duclerior, and Lydia Kang. Its purpose is for bloggers to call attention to older posts that others may have missed or anything they feel is worthy of repeating on their sites.
This was a little tougher than I had expected. I set my sights on my earliest posts--the ones that have no comments and were therefore probably only read by a few people if anyone at all. From the outset I tried to deliver quality goods. I hope this entry is one you might enjoy. I think this post tells a little more about what I set out to accomplish with my blog.
I'll start with a set up of what was happening on Tossing It Out at that time. My first few posts described something about who I am and what I was planning to do with my blog. My post of Wednesday September 23, 2009 titled "Who Am I? & Who Are You?" was an introduction of me to the readers. I began that post with a quote from one of my favorite poems:
To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts.
from the poem "Naming of Parts" by Henry ReedOn the following day, September 24 2009 I continued with my theme:
Make Target Practice, Not War
Today we have what to do after firing. Though some blogs are forums for rants and raves, I don't want to be guilty of incendiary provocations. I don't want to be just shooting off my mouth or shooting from the hip. This ain't no cowboy blog pardner. I mean, I like cowboys and westerns and such, but I'm not intending for a gunfight at the OK Corral or anything like that. I just want to sit around the campfire and jaw a bit.
I enjoy a good debate and I will follow through with that when the situation calls for it, but hopefully always in good clean fun. I ain't got nothin' against nobody in particular. There might be some ideas, lifestyles, movements, or the like that I don't particularly like or agree with, but I'm usually happy to chat about any of it. So civil debate, yes-war no.
In other words, using the metaphor of words or the blog as a gun, I'm just doing target practice. I'm not out to attack anyone or hurt anybody. Not to say I might not get careless at times, but hopefully if I do hit anyone it will only be a flesh wound.
What to do after firing? When it's just casual target practice, after firing I would want to take a look and see if I hit my target and see how I could improve in the future. I've never been a gun guy and have only fired a gun a few times, but I'm not against guns by any means.
One of my friends who does own guns and is pretty knowledgeable about them once told me about how he once stood a bayonet upright in the ground, fired at it to where the blade split the bullet in half to where the bullet halves broke two glass bottles standing behind the bayonet. He experimented with the shot a number of times before actually breaking two bottles with one bullet, but when he finally did it I guess it was pretty impressive. Oh, and two other friends of mine were there to witness the feat and they corroborated the story. I have no real reason to doubt it.
The point of all this is if you're doing target practice, after firing you fire again trying to correct any aiming errors you had the first time. Then you keep firing to perfect your shooting skill. When you're done you put the weapon away in a safe place. Sometimes you will need to clean the gun again. Care and maintenance will keep the weapon in good working order. And whenever you're ready to use it, your gun's ready. Bang!
I think I prefer the juggling metaphor better. It conjures a more peaceful image. Clowns and costumed performers or people just having fun in the park tossing their props into the air. Skill and dexterity all honed by hours of practice. And it's good exercise. So are you ready? Okay I'm going to toss it to you. Ready? Here it comes. You got it? Toss it back.
