Sight

There have been moments when I looked at the site meter on the photo blog and saw the low numbers and wondered why I bother. I would think about how I barely seem to have time to do (what I call) the "post-production" portion (any cropping, rotating, or adjustments in contrast or color, etc.—and I don't even do that much) and then try to determine which shots are the best (yes, I take way more pictures than I share—despite all appearances to the contrary). (At present I am over a month behind in what is posted to the blog versus what photos I've most recently shot.) If so few were looking, was it worth the effort?

Boo-freaking-hoo. I'm not looking for sympathy. This is merely admitting that, although I try to have pretty low expectations, it is nice every once in a while to think that if the celebrity gossip blogs can get hundreds of thousands of hits per day that I might be able to get a tiny fraction of those numbers. Occasionally.

Boo-freaking-hoo. Yes.

Anyway, last week I got a comment left from a woman who identified herself as being from "sunny Brazil." She noted having spent about an hour looking at what was on that site, and offered perhaps one of the greatest compliments I will ever receive: "I think you see things we don't."

Damn.

My self-esteem is not entirely in the toilet, but that level of accolade blows away what I'm generally comfortable accepting.

But I'll try.

And I am reminded why I bother. Despite all the conniving shit-heads out there on the 'net, it appears there may be a network of truly decent human beings with whom it's unlikely I would ever come into contact were it not for me bothering (and them bothering).

Hell, if I never get another visitor to that site, I'll still consider it more successful than that of the gossip bloggers.

I may be a cynical piece of crap a lot of the time, but if only for a brief second I put one tiny bit of beauty in an ugly world and someone else enjoyed it, that's something. Maybe not much, but it's not nothing.