Blogs of Personal Despair: Breaking new ground sirloin steak sandwiches, "Can I buy a vowel, Pat?"

Despair, deep & profound despair, doesn't show up much in personal blogs. Although I do read a blog by a Bankruptcy attorney in which he features stories told to him by his clients about how they came to be in their individual morbidly despairing situations. (Which is not the same as despairingly morbid situations; ask any homicide detective.)

But although there is plenty of despair in his blog, it's not the attorney's personal despair. He seems to be quite happy and talks a lot about his favorite sport, kidney punching, and his favorite pastime, collecting Canadian Impressionist bacon paintings.

What occasioned this post was stumbling across a blog in which the blogger was simply begging for money. He identified himself, provided a few broad strokes regarding his current pitiful condition, asked for money, and then provided an address. Then there was a final reflection about how what goes around comes around.

Which is what annoyed/sparked me. Because like so many supposed pearls of wisdom, the ol' 'what goes around comes around' aphorism is just so much bilge water. I'm not saying that it's not true that how you treat people is likely to be how they'll treat you, I'm saying that it's not a rule of life, or a law irrevocably established since the foundation of the world... It's more wishful thinking than anything else.

And now please, a moment of silence as you reflect upon how lucky you are that you've been able to escape paying full cost for all your follies. And if you'd like to drop a dime on yourself, I'll be happy to read all about it in your blog. It could be quite liberating! What's the worst that could happen? Oh sure, maybe people will make fun of you, forward the post to your boss, your parents, your spouse, your ex-spouse, your ex-ex-spouse, your children, your mistress, your competitors, your local District Attorney, the FBI, the IRS... What could it hurt?