Why am I here?

That's a question that was posed on one of Mike's blogs I believe. CJW asked why there were bloggers and people making comments that aren't even from Mt. Home. Since he mentioned Caldwell, and as far as I know I'm the only one here from Caldwell, he must have meant me. He also said something about being here because we got permanently banned from blogs in our own town or were ashamed to state our real feelings close to home.

Well, I've never been banned from anything. I do comment on the Idaho Statesman. A rag, I know, but there opportunities for some polite discussion at times. I use the same screen name as I use here. The discussions I usually get involved with center around alcoholism, something I am well acquainted with. It reached the point that I got tired of typing the same rant so I saved it in word and just copied and pasted it. It goes as follows

I don't freaking believe it!! Oh well, here goes again.
1) It has been proven WE are wired that way when we are born.
2) If this were a choice, then WE should be put away forever as a danger to society.
My journey into active alcoholism started at age 13.
I finally started my recovery at 59. A choice to live like that? Are you insane?
WE all live that one crisis away from the insanity to think WE can handle just one. ( Sorry for the convoluted way I put that. )  Oh heck, most of you out there know what I mean.
S55,wordsmith, and many many more out there do understand and do not JUDGE!
God help me if ever reach that point of insanity. My just one will be a very large bottle to accompany me on my last drive to High Bridge.

I have this little rant saved so I can repost it everytime I read something so stupid.

As to why I'm here, I came upon these blogs by accident. Then I started reading them. I kept my mouth shut for quite awhile before I registered and started commenting. For the most part everyone has welcomed me, warts and all. With exception of a person who is no longer allowed to comment here I have been called very few names, even though my politics are rather different . In fact one night Mike and I most likely set a record for the number of comments for a 90 minute span of time. Good polite discourse. We didn't change each others mind and agreed to disagree, but we listened to each other. I have met 3 people face to face, MsM, lamont and HewBet who is also gone. In my bio I state very clearly how I feel about name calling. Mike wrote a blog about the name calling. I will plead guilty to behavior and words that bordered on name calling with CJW when I felt that my integrity had been challenged, as well as my profession. I may complain about certain things about my profession, but all in all, I am very good at what I do and I enjoy the work.

Thanks for reading this.

Roy