Be careful what you write and where you write it.

Dear cyber-buddies,

A couple of days ago a friend sent me a link to a blog-site where a caution for all of us bloggers, facebookers and youtube types had been posted. It pointed out that Google keeps everything you post forever, even if you delete it. This is not sinister in itself, just part of how they provide an exhaustive and efficient search engine, but it does mean that things can come back to bite you for a long time.

It's a worthwhile heads up. Web-postings are a new thing and we need to be mindful that they’re not quite as fleeting as private conversations, which are, themselves, not quite as fleeting or private as we tend to imagine. As a preacher I’ve always had to keep in mind that a sermon is very public, but once you start transferring your thoughts to an enduring medium like published print, it does get a bit more consequentsitive. (In fact you might even start making up words.)

I'm always very careful about what I post anyway, but it's good to be reminded that THE GREAT GOOG ALMIGHTY never sleeps. And, even if you're careful not to post anything too humiliating, you're still not out of the woods. Opinions that seemed pretty obvious, and even enlightened at one point, can look pretty ridiculous later on.

When I'm frustrated by someone who's expounding a particularly stupid opinion the Lord, in his mercy, often reminds me of my initial response to the movement to make public buildings accessible to the disabled. I fulminated for months, if not years, about what a silly waste of money it was. I don't know whether I just had no idea how many people we were talking about - in those days the disabled didn't get out much because there were so few places they could go - or whether I was simply being a complete idiot. Regardless, I've often thought how glad I am that I wasn't blogging back then.

But, no matter how careful we are, times and minds tend to change over the years, and things go in and out of fashion. When I was a kid Louis Riel was a bad guy, then he was a good guy, then a bad guy again for a while, and now he's a hero once more, though I don't know if he's received his Order of Canada yet. And, speaking of OCs, Henry Morgentaler was an alleged criminal for quite some time before he got his Order of Canada, and the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney has become one since he got his. The past is almost as hard to predict as the future.

Moral: When we foolishly write our names in pee, it's a good thing we do it in the snow. But, even so, it might be wiser to write someone else's name.

Sincerely,

Alexander McKenzie