So, for almost no reason at all, other than the fact that I find it interesting, I decided to tell you which of my posts are the most popular so far. Back in December of 2016, I listed the top 10 as it stood then.

Just for the record, I don’t actually believe the stats on my blog, so I don’t study them or keep track of them. (I also don’t keep track of subscribers or look at their email addresses, so if you subscribe or unsubscribe, that’s entirely between you and the technology of this blog. I hope the technology treats you well.) You see, I once asked EfficientOne to hide them from me, and it seems that he has really fictionalized those numbers, because they don’t really make sense anymore. But you know, it’s better for me this way, and, in fact, I would recommend this practice of not watching statistics, because watching stats is what messes up so many people on social media. They live for the numbers, and that’s a really, really, unfortunate thing to live for. They are happy when they’ve gotten more attention, and downcast when people seem disinterested, as if their personal worth as a human being has been determined for the better or worse. (But truly, some of the people on social media with the ‘best’ numbers are doing the very worst damage to humanity, doling out advice that is very harmful, and setting examples that are unwholesome, and that will, if followed, lead to a lot of individual pain and suffering.) But people find it difficult not to care about ‘their’ numbers. And, perhaps worst of all, they don’t want to admit how influenced they are by these numbers they watch, so they feel that they can’t admit to anyone why they’re sad. It’s too bad! Please, notice how social media is making you feel, and make changes! Unsubscribe. Clear your mind. Protect your heart.

I have omitted the posts with the messages, because I didn’t compose those.

I am sure that all bloggers would say that they are surprised at which posts are the most popular, in the same way that singers would say that they’re surprised at which songs climb the charts, and in the same way that an author is surprised at which novels have become bestsellers. For the purposes of this post, I’m assuming that the numbers that I see about hits are reliable enough to show which are popular. Truth be told, I reread some of them to see what on earth I had written, and to guess at why those had been chosen. But anyway, here are my chart climbers — my best sellers:

The 20 Most Popular Posts (most popular at the top):

Post 236	Here’s My Essay, Baby! A Critique of the English 30-1 Diploma Examinations
Post 43	Zoom Zoom Beep Beep: Reflections on a Restless Culture
Post 18	Zip it: Five Reasons Not to Blog
Post 210	A Little Bit About Your Lawywer
Post 53	One Candle: Reflections at Christmastide
Post 44	Call Me When It’s Over: Reflections on Book Clubs
Post 288	Up Late Last Night
Post 286	Required Reading: Four Truths About Motherhood to Counter the Four Modern Lies
Post 293	9 Seven Steps: Reflections on Being a Prophet
Post 294	Sent
Post 285	The Grand Finale: A Recipe for December
Post 289	Hidden Depths: Reflections on Identity and Suicide
Post 229	Where Do You Go and the Other Inspired Song of 1996
Post 20	Bystander: Reflections on the Context of Suffering
Post 290	Because I Actually Like Quebec: Reflections on the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
Post 292	Canada Day 2018
Post 291	All That Noise: Reflections on Envy
Post 19	Blogging: Reflections on Reflecting Aloud
Post 3	Unprofitable Talents: Reflections on Hobbies
Post 261	Right to Rewrite? Reflections on a Revised Version of The Merchant of Venice