Wow, a blog.

Everyone has one, these days. So why add another to the milieu? Well, why not?

I've been reading and viewing quite a lot, lately. Far more than ever before, and on a wider range of topics than ever before. Some of the things I've seen make me think. And, being the guy that I am, that makes me want to write. In particular, the things I'm tempted to write about tend to be controversial, and I like to read about them from the point of view opposite my own. The reason for this should be obvious enough; reading an opposing point of view forces me to expand my mind and view the world in a way that I normally don't. Certainly, reading arguments about an issue from someone I agree with can be educational, but in the end it doesn't make me re-evaluate my own views. It doesn't open me up as much. And those times are the times when the most growth is possible.

Having read these opposing points of view, I then have to consider them. For me, it's always been easiest to bounce my ideas, and the opposing ideas, off of someone else, and my girlfriend is probably sick to death of being my sounding board. It's not so much the process of question-and-response that does it for me, though that can be enormously helpful. It's more that I find that attempting to express ideas in words, out loud or in print, helps me to clarify them. I've started commenting on a few blogs that I've been reading, for that reason. Still, I wanted a place where I could toss out what I was thinking about at any given moment, rather than just responding to the things that someone else was thinking about. Hence, the Parsleyblog. Maybe people will read it; probably not. But since I tend to wind up talking more or less to myself when I'm considering or re-considering ideas, the simple process of taking my nebulous thoughts and forming them into words and sentences, I think it'll all work out.

That being said, if anyone -does- wind up reading this, and disagrees with me vehemently, I thoroughly encourage you to express your side, for the reasons listed above, so long as it's done in a reasonable manner.

I look forward to learning from you.