A bell's not a bell 'til you ring it... -- Oscar Hammerstein II
Much like the opening lines of the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" reprise (1), knowledge -- like love: doesn't exist "'til you give it away." Data become knowledge when they are shared, analyzed, verified. Or like money in Hello, Dolly!, knowledge "is like manure -- it doesn't do good unless you spread it around, encouraging young things to grow."
While sharing everything you know may, perversely, show up everything you don't know, knowing what you don't know gives you the option to learn it. Of course, there will be someone who will take that opportunity to say that it's your posterior, not your cranium, that has the intelligence,(2) but y'know what? That's just him (or her) sharing his (or her) lack of knowledge.
On a more serious note...
One of the advantages of being active in discussion-oriented diabetes communities online -- whether it be the dLife forums, Diabetes UK forums, Diabetes Daily forums, Twitter, Facebook, TuDiabetes, Diabetic Connect, or any of the myriad other resources out there -- is that we learn not just about our own diabetes, but about others' diabetes as well. While I'll probably never be an expert on the minutae of type 1 management, I've learned that pumps use short-acting insulin, and most people on multiple daily injections have both short-acting and long-acting insulins, and that the blood glucose levels of many people with type 1 can vary in a wider range, and more rapidly, than that of many people with type 2 diabetes. I also understand that my log, because of the other metabolic syndrome components, needs to be different than the log of someone who does not have hypertension, but who does need to log multiple insulin doses, basal rates, and bolus information.
And having this information, I can share it. Whether it be through blogging, participating in a forum or group discussion, or in real life. Sometimes, even, I'm blessed enough to learn that what I've shared, or what has been shared with me, has helped someone else -- whether it be pointing him in the direction of medical or lifestyle resources, providing emotional support, or a number of other ways in which we help each other along this journey called Life.
Most of the time, the information we share stays within one community -- whether that be dLife, TuDiabetes, or the support group at our local hospital or diabetes center. If we're more active (or more extroverted), we can serve as conduits between two or more communities (or between multiple subgroups of the same community), sharing information, asking questions or filling in gaps where appropriate. It is the ability to learn, and to pass on, information and knowledge that leads many of us to seek out these conduit connections.
None of us here will ever replace another member's personal physician or CDE -- but as we read, talk, and learn, we accumulate information. That information can then be passed along to help another person with diabetes, or someone caring for a person with diabetes. When we post up our numbers and observations, we can either validate or provide counterpoint to another person's observations. Over time, this information may provide healthcare providers and researchers greater insight into helping us manage our diabetes, and into diabetes itself. We can direct healthcare providers and diabetes researchers to resources they may have missed. We can provide our observations, ask their opinions, and discuss what we have found. Each of these activities enriches and informs both our own lives and the lives of those our healthcare team touches through their practices.
Of course the end goal is to cure all types of diabetes and to reverse all complications of diabetes -- but until that time, what we learn and share about living with diabetes helps others live with it, and in their turns, contribute to a body of knowledge available to all who have a vested interest in managing, arresting, reversing, and curing all types of diabetes.
1 Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Sound of Music
2 Smart@$$!
