While in Las Vegas, at BlogWorld, it became apparent to me why our corner of the blogosphere matters here at SpouseBuzz.
Our voice counts. Your voice counts.
That is the fantastic thing about new media. Every voice counts. The day of the of the antediluvian media is quickly coming to an end, and you and I lie in the middle of it.
The good and bad part of this, you and I represent our community. Wow, what is a tremendous responsibility, that is. However, we no longer have to depend on larger media outlets like ABC, CBS, etc to tell our story. We can tell it ourselves. Although, it seems as though our opinions get paralyzed often when politics comes in to play. Both sides of the political spectrum are eager to use military spouses to prove a point.
We have really tried our best to keep things apolitical here at SpouseBuzz forum. Why? Because as a Collective group of voices, we are certainly more powerful than one voice. No military spouse should feel alienated because of politics. At the end of the day, we all want to be heard.
The good news is, we are being listened to. The Department of Defense reads spouseBuzz, they know we exist. They sat in on the military sessions at the Expo. They understand the importance and value of our opinion. So, it is a great idea to use it to be an advocate for one another.
On the down side of things, there are are people that do not know about the life of a military spouse. In fact at one point of the conference Sarah and I were pulled aside by one of the attendees. He asked what SpouseBuzz was, if our husbands were currently deployed. I said "not, currently, but our husbands have been deployed, and the current state of affairs in the World would dictate that they would be deployed again. And that is OK, it is their job." He looked at me confused, and I saw the disconnect that happens. I think most of us have seen it. He then said "and you are OK with that? And I said "It is his job, it is my families job, it is what we do, I am proud of him." And then he said......get this...
"Are you people for real?" He said it in a scoffing manner.
I replied with "yes, we are for real". He thought it was an "act". Which amazed Sarah and I.
I am sooo proud of each of you. It is a huge job what you do daily. The worry, the meals for one, the explanation to children who do not understand the World. You are inspiring to us. Keep using your voice ladies and gentlemen. I do believe that eventually everyone will hear us.
