I wonder if anyone who posts here or on other sites has ever evaluated what he writes or asked himself if his writing really matters.  Not that it has to matter.

But, for me it does! I'm not an exceptionally talented person...I can't sing...I can't crochet or knit....I can cook, but I'm far from a Julia Childs...I have some athletic talent, but I'm too short to have ever been successful at the college level.

However, I do have ONE talent!  I can write!  Now, I'm not a  waxing poet nor a short story whiz nor a gripping novelist!  Nope!  None of those!

What I am is an essayist!  Now, that's about as exciting for most people as watching clothes dry.

If you don't believe me, check to see who has by far the most hits here.  It is not I, although I often discuss crucial issues.  Far and away the most popular blogger on this website is Marg (Nittineedles)

That only serves to prove that knitting is much more interesting to people than whether we will have a social security cut, whether Obama will be a one-term President, or whether the taxes on the rich will ever get rolled back. (No offense, Marg)

On Marg's heels is Panthurdreams with his tales of beautiful Hawaii, where he lives.

Then, wonder of wonders, I usually come in a distant third behind these two!  Sometimes, Fredo, jd or Mrs. Troutbend even beat me out of third.

 The most hits I can muster in a day, according to my hit counter, is between 100 and 110.  However, I cannot lie.  That also includes hits I get on my other blogging site.

I'll tell you JUST HOW PATHETIC  THE SITUATION IS!  I even get knocked off the podium from time to time by Children's Allergy Center, which is written in some foreign language.

Now, that's the ultimate disgrace...to be relegated down the popularity pole by wido 25:  Here's just a sample of his post:
SEMUA ARTIKEL DI SITUS INI TELAH KADALUARSA DAN TELAH DI UPDATE DAN DIPERBAHARUI DI SITUS KAMI YANG BARU , SEBAIKNYA ANDA SEGERA KLIK https://childrenallergyclinic.wordpress.com/ children’s ALLERGY CLINIC JL TAMAN BENDUNGAN ASAHAN 5 BENDUNGAN HILIR JAKARTA PUSAT, JAKARTA INDONESIA 10210 PHONE : (021) 70081995 – 5703646 email : judarwanto@gmail.com https://childrenallergyclinic.wordpress.com/

I guess the guy is in Jakarta.  This came from his home page.  So, this must be Indonesian or some such language.  All I can say is that there  must be a heck of a lot of kids over there with allergies!  Either that or he is sending clandestine messages around the world!  Now, that's an interesting thought, isn't it?

Either way, I'm being beat on a fairly regular basis by some guy who doesn't even post in English!!

So, I've been forced to take a really hard look at whether I'm really making a difference.  To do that, I went back to my hit counter!  Here's what I found!

I discovered that I have had over the past four or five years visitors from 170 countries. ( https://www.web-stat.com/stats/list_coumtries.pl?loginID=BmBACMCoASwAAAx-NNQAAAAF&n_lines=100) That's encouraging!

The other thing that I discovered is that 99 per cent of my readers are "new".  They usually arrive at my website after googling a topic on which I have previously written.  Nothing wrong with that either.  That is, until I took a look at WHAT THEY WERE GOOGLING!

Like to know what the top three most popular posts the last two years were?  It's NOT GOOD, FOLKS!  It's NOT GOOD AT ALL!   My Bruce Jenner post took first, followed closely by the "angel" post.  Remember when I wrote about the Siamese twins who were joined for life because they could not be separated?  That was third!

So, what do we have?  A quasi-celebrity and his dysfunctional family, some supernatural creatures that a lot of people don't even believe exists, and what would be considered a freak show at a carnival.  THAT IS DEPRESSING!

I'm trying to decide whether this is a commentary on just HOW BAD A WRITER I REALLY AM or a statement on how disinterested people are in serious topics.

Either way, it's a sad situation.

Sad!  Sad!  Sad!