A complete mess

You know how you sometimes lash off a quick comment? You are blemming through Blog O’Sphere at a rate of knots, speed reading words that other folk have agonised over. So many blogs, so many great ideas, so little time. I’ve always been of the opinion that it is rude to pass through too many blogs and not leave a comment. And I’ll admit that sometimes, my quick comment doesn’t quite do justice to the excellent blog that I’ve just read.

Sometimes such haste gets you into big trouble. Now, I don’t mean mis-spelling ‘convenience’ or saying “there” instead of “their” or even, heaven-forbid, split the odd infinitive. No I mean a big trouble. Not quite articulating your thoughts as comprehensively as they deserve so that in their incompleteness you end up leaving your point unmade. So then you’ve no choice but to try to complete the half-job you did in the first place. But second time around, you are in even more haste such that you half-complete your completing comment. This leaves your argument even more precarious. So you’ve no choice but to complete the incomplete completion.

Fine you think. How hard can that be? Well it would be fine, if everyone in the world had stopped blogging, and you’d manage to defy the laws of time and gravity and had read all intervening bloggs. No, this time, you are no less ahead of the game. Still so many blogs, so little time. So you lash off another half-baked comment. In the end, you never get your point made. As everyone knows, despite halving the remaining distance with each post, you never ever make it to the end.

In a characteristically thought-provoking post, Omani discussed President McAleese’s recent Saudi trip. Admitting he probably wasn’t well qualified to comment, he invited comment. I duly obliged. In my mind, the good President isn’t without her faults, but she consistently excels in a difficult job. Before I knew it, I was comparing her favourably with the second best President that we’ve had, President Robinson. I know that it is a defeatist position championing one Mary at the expense of the other. A few posts on, that what I found myself at.

So for the record. I admire the way after Omagh, President McAleese articulate what we couldn’t articulate – those cowardly thugs were no freedom fighters. After 9-11, she said what our left-wing anti-US cool wouldn’t let us say (but couldn’t stop us feel). After the Tsunami, she reflected the collective horror of our country. She’s not without her faults – who is? She has made the odd gaff. But for the very reason she lets her warmth, empathy and compassion show, she makes me proud to have her as a President. And her predecessor was pretty cool also!