A Blogger’s Pledge

1. I shall not call people names.
I know that those whom I shall call names by any other name shall not smell and they may like me for it. I believe disrespect is bad manners and bad conduct; besides, it busts the ego, which happens to be mine: by calling people names, I shall be giving the impression that I have run out of ideas. I have done it before; I shall not pass this way again.

2. I shall be interesting.
It occurs to me that if I cannot be persuasive, I shall at least be intriguing, or enticing, or inspirational. I swear that a blog is a diary and, therefore, personal, but I shall want you to read my blog and, beyond that, I shall be glad it if you get to like the blogger.

3. I shall reinvent the wheel.
I shall consider the possibilities before, during and after blogging, and the non-possibilities, and know that I am on my way to being creative. I shall think about how to say what has been said before in a different way by, say, using another metaphor or making a paradigm shift. So, instead of shouting ‘Down with etcetera!’ I shall shout ‘Up with etcetera!’ I shall revise those slogans I have been shouting since the Flower Power days of the 1960s or People Power days of the 1980s. I shall reinvent myself. I shall call for the reinvention of the parliament of the streets; I shall use the blog for my street campaigns.

4. I shall check my facts.
I know that not having the facts at hand is a bad excuse for bad blogging, so I shall strive to know more than I think I know, and more than I believe I should. I know also that I have the biggest and the freest library in the world, the World Wide Web. If I am wrong about something, then I can always point to the Internet.

5. I shall keep it simple, stupid!
Unless I want to impress people, as I sometimes do, I shall not write sentences as complicated as the rules of English grammar. And I shall not use technical jargon unless I explain it one way or the other. And I shall not give you Greek without translating it, unless I don’t know any better.

6. I shall follow the 4Cs of writing.
I sense that at any time anywhere, 500 words is nice and easy to read, with or without graphics. Longer than that, say 1000 words, if I want to be read, and read again, I shall have to be clear and comprehensive and concise and coherent as well. Clear means I shall have made it understandable by itself. Comprehensive means I shall have covered the essential elements. Concise means I shall have made it as short as can be. Coherent means I shall have written it so that it flows as water and finds its own way from level to level.

7. I shall argue beautifully.
I shall use logic, induction, deduction if I so wish, but I shall never ad hominem or appeal to your emotions. If I want to be emotional, I shall be eloquent about it. I shall always bear in mind: There’s enough garbage thrown into the winds already.

8. I shall go back to the basics.
I realize that in blogging as in living, I need to go back to the basics. I shall be encouraged that in thinking what to say, thinking what to think, I can always go back to the Four Freedoms, by way of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Or the Middle Path, by way of the Buddha. Or the Ten Commandments, by way of the Bible. Or by way of all of the above.

9. I shall think campaign.
I am sure my blogging is not a one-shot deal. I know I shall try to convince you to think, or act, or both. I shall make you think creatively first, act critically next. I know that you always think critically first, act creatively next; if I want you to think critically first, I shall need no blog – you’re thinking critically already. Now, I am convinced that I shall not be able to convince you to think creatively first in one blog, or two, or three – so I shall plan a campaign. I shall use the charm of Ms AIDA, a good friend of mine. Ms AIDA is a lovely, sexy sequence of presence: Awareness building Interest building Desire leading to Action. Heightened Awareness leads to Interest; Heightened Interest leads to Desire; Heightened Desire leads to Action – and Action leads to Awareness of more. With Ms AIDA, I shall need not only theory but more so practice – I shall see that practice makes perfect! And yes, I shall always think of a Win-Win Campaign, so that at the beginning I shall already be a winner.

10. I shall blog on!
I am certain that ‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ – that is true today as it was in the turbulent times of American patriot Thomas Paine. So, I know that my country needs bloggers with heart, not bombers with hurt. So, I shall not be the sunshine patriot or summer soldier Paine had warned about; as a writer, I shall deem it my duty to keep on writing for the sake of my beloved country, whatever my countrymen say about her. So, at the end of each blogging, remembering Romeo’s Juliet and with much passion I shall always say to you or to myself: ‘Good night, good night. Blogging is such sweet sorrow / That I bid good night till it be morrow!’

Written 2005 July 28/August 08 by Frank A Hilario