The Best Blog There Never Was

July 24, 2001

Screw what anyone says about blogs becoming old news. In my opinion they're at their very best right now, thanks to sites that follow Paul's theory. But there's one major problem with even the best blogs.

They're all written by young people.

By young people, I mean those between 15 and 30. Maybe one of the reasons that I love reading these blogs is because I can relate to them. But the best blog is one that I don't believe currently exists: a blog written by a senior citizen.

Let's get him on Blogger.

I was always enthralled by my grandfather's stories of how he ran away from home during the Great Depression and rode the rails as a hobo. How one time he had strapped himself onto the side of a train's ladder with his belt, holding a loaf of bread and waking up to find the belt hanging from a thread and the bread in his hand gone as the train sped down the tracks. How he was an extra as a Native American (despite the fact he was Polish and nowhere near Native American) in the Cary Grant/Claude Rains film The Last Outpost. I would love to read a daily blog written by someone in their mid-80s. Not one talking about how they played Bridge that day, but recounting stories of their past, preserving their family history on the Web.

By the time one reaches 80, there are enough experiences to blog every day for years, discussing how major events like wars or political movements affected them and their families or how perceptions of people of different races or religions have changed over the years. There's so much interesting content out there that's not being passed on.

What about those eldery people that have no families, or that are sitting in a rest home and don't have people to listen to their stories? A new family could be waiting for them online, eager to hear their tales and perspectives. Life in a nursing home has got to be so tedious—what better way to remind the elderly that they are important to us and that they do have something important to say than to let them tell the whole world? There's so much potential.

As I was listening to Mena's excellent audio blog entry and reflecting on this particular entry of my own, I was reminded of a project I did with my grandfather when I was in fourth or fifth grade. It was a biography of my grandfather that I wrote called My Grandfather the Hobo. For it, I interviewed him on tape and just having him tell stories that I could use in my project. I know that that tape still exists somewhere (being a packrat helps sometimes). I'd love to get some of my grandfather's stories posted to help his memory live on.

So the next time you talk to your grandmother or great uncle, ask them about a story you remember being told as a kid. Ask them about your parents. And then ask them what they'd think about sharing their stories with the world.