When I was growing up, I distinctly remember my mother insisting on holding on to our social security cards. It was constantly reinforced that you never divulge that information unless for official purposes in which case she would handle things. It was a time when privacy was still something that was treasured and to some extent, respected. It was beginning to seem as if the way of thinking I had been accustomed to was quickly changing. I really thought about it for the first time when I left for basic training in the late 90’s.

The first indication that something was off was the fact that your social security number was stenciled in huge black numbers on the side of your duffle bags. I remember getting off the cattle truck after heading down range and seeing dozens of other young men running for their lives from shouting drill sergeants. Each man had a duffle under each arm with your last name and social for all to see. I was several years older than most people in my basic platoon so the combination of having my social out like that and having some guy my age (or younger in some cases) yelling at me like I don’t know what’s good for me was maddening and took awhile to get used to. Here I am sounding like an old cowboy telling tales around a camp fire, reminiscing of the olden days. I’m not old, and the cowboy reference stems from the lingering lines of dialogue sifting through my head from a late night viewing of the “True Grit” remake.

Great movie by the way.

Fast forward a decade or so and privacy is something that you learn about in history books-or as blurb on the news; something about your rights being taken.

As far as I can tell, technology and some rather significant changes in social taboos are responsible. We aren’t unique in this, I think that this same point with some adjustments can be made for just about any point in human history. The generation before complaining about the next. I’m not complaining in that way, and with that we’ll pause for this muscial interlude because it just popped in my head and it’s appropriate to the subject matter:

I really liked that song when it came out.

Just like anything else it comes down to what you’re personally okay with divulging to the world. There are some things I just won’t discuss, certain rules that I have about things I choose to write about. No matter how hard you try though there will always be someone with a gripe about something you post. Two things I’ve learned since I’ve started blogging are:

1) You won’t please everyone

2) And more than likely if you have to think about should you, don’t write about it.

I hope this would go without saying but I’ll say it anyway just in case: we aren’t talking about all instances, only on issues of a personal matter. Of course there are stories that need to be told, both personal and otherwise. I’m not saying that out of fear you should curtail what it is you choose to write about. I’m just suggesting a return to discretion in some cases.

Now this is the part where I really sound like a hypocrite and to some degree it would be fair to say that. I’m writing a blog-sometimes about what I even consider deeply personal things. It’s out on the web for the world to see, so how is what I am talking about any different than what I am actually doing.

A bit of the pot calling the kettle black.

It does bother me to write about something like bipolar because of the ramifications that often occur from people finding out. It’s gotten a lot better but there’s still a really negative stigma. I just deal with it because that’s life. We can talk about political correctness all we want but in reality, in peoples minds, they are going to think what they want to think no matter how many clever memes and PSA’s you come up with. And let’s face it we don’t exactly have a good public track record. I’ve been known to have some interesting occurrences over the years so I get it. Keeping that in mind it’s not that you can’t but how you should go about saying something.

Another thing that helps is not really caring if people read it or not. Don’t take that the wrong way-I obviously want people reading what I write, I want some sort of interaction but it’s a lot easier and stress free when your main reason for doing it is for you; not selfishly but if you can’t take care of yourself you can’t take care of anyone else. That or you think that even in the slightest way, you could help somebody with your words. That’s how I look at it. It’s dual-purpose for me: I get some sort of therapeutic relief and maybe someone reading it doesn’t feel like they’re alone.

When I was my sons age it was 8-bit Nintendo and He-man, what the heck is the internet? Now my son and I can hop online and frag people from half-way around the world make a video about it and upload it to a social network site and laugh with my friends. I can’t imagine being an older citizen who’s really seen things change. I hope the good Lord blesses us with many happy healthy years as family and friends together, partly so I can see just how much things are going to change-minus all the inevitable ups and downs that accompany us in life.

I don’t know if I ultimately made a point about privacy or the illusion of it but if I were to sum it all up I’d say to just be smart about it. Once it’s out there, it’s out there and no amount of editing is going to change that. I freak out over typos and grammatical errors (if you were here right now you would’ve seen me triple check that I spelled that right to avoid the irony of screwing up). Say what you want by all means, but that freedom does not come with freedom of consequences. Say what you want just be smart about it because it’s not going to get any better, meaning it won’t go back the other way.

…at least for now. When all the SOPA stuff is said and done and senate bill 1867 is more forcibly acted upon it won’t matter anyway because we won’t have any freedoms left.

Never mind scratch everything I said and have at it. Enjoy it while you can.