It takes a lot of hubris to start a blog. I mean you've got to have a really big ego to become a blogger.
Or, so I thought until I read a couple of local bloggers like my step-daughter Kelsey and Columbus' blogging legend, Mike Venable. Their blogs are so powerful, so humble, and so absolutely heartfelt they simply blew me away and thoroughly disabused me of my previous and totally inaccurate preconception of blogging and bloggers.
So life lesson #1 is that preconceptions about things or people can easily be wrong. Take for example, the preconception by my good Republican friends that all Democrats are bad people. Now I know for a fact that this is simply not true. I have a lot of good friends who are Democrats and they're not bad people. OK, if you're going to take the time to read this, then you must understand a few of my blogging rules. Rule #1 is that I exaggerate--not a little but a lot. But, I actually do have some friends who do happen to be Democrats. Take for example, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Marquette and Rick McKnight. They're both life-long Democrats but they're not bad people. They both have big hearts. They both are generous with their time, talents, and money for the benefit of others, and they both love dogs. Now, I ask you, how could you possibly be a bad person and a dog lover at the same time. It's impossible. It's unimaginable. It is, in fact, an oxymoron. Only good people are dog lovers and I can prove it. My wife is a dog lover and she's the best person I know.
So, remember preconceptions can lead you down the path of false belief, the mother of all problems in our world today. If you want to rid yourself of preconceptions always ask the question how do I know this presumed fact to be true? Did I witness it myself. Did it happen to me? Do I have a first hand account of the belief I hold? Did I form this belief on my own or was it formed by someone else, by their account, by their supposed witness, or by their dependence on someone else's opinion. After you ask these questions, then ask yourself is it possible that I'm wrong, that my preconception was in fact a misconception instead. If you perchance answer the question, "yes'', then you have just learned life lesson #1.
