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Sparkle (1)
I heard a bigoted conversation whilst travelling yesterday. It was two people ridiculing the advent of social media in the life of one of their friends and how ‘stupid’ this absent friend was to regard some of her online cohorts as ‘friends’. This got me thinking because, I must admit, 18 months ago I may have shared a little (just a little) of the same view. Not about technology per se, in which I am well versed, but the whole thing of ‘online friends’.
When I first started the blogging journey it was just a way to write and to collate those writings. I had no idea how important blogging/writing would become in my life and, certainly, did not embark on the journey to meet ‘friends’. Who does that? Who relates to people they have never met (and met online no less) in any real or genuine way? Well, as it turns out, me.
In examining the thing further, I realise it is also the way I keep sane and tumble out all the ‘doings’ that go on in my head. ‘Doings’ I would have talked to my late husband about, who was my ultimate sounding board, and who was endlessly happy to listen, ridicule, laugh or challenge.
While I have the dearest of friends and family, it is not the same as having your own in-house sounding board. The sounding board that knows the shortcuts in your language; the bits of that language that needs close attention and probing (even when you protest to the contrary) and the bits that should be listened to with a pinch of salt – which completely messes with the recognised metaphor, but you take my meaning. This feedback is now closely allied to the comments that are generated when I write a post. Whether it be ‘good job’, ‘well said, or ‘you’re full of sh*t.’
In hindsight, I suppose all of those outpourings and often “IS IT ME?” questions had to be directed constructively (and sometimes not so constructively) somewhere.
Incredulously, I have met some top people from all walks of life and the thrill, the thing that binds us together is words and our love of setting those words out in a meaningful or entertaining way. I continue to believe that words truly have the power to uplift, inspire and transform us, I am just so surprised I have been uplifted, inspired and transformed by people I have never met. Not one of them.
Strangely, though, I feel I do know these people and am part of a real community of intelligent and disparate minds. Not because there is any great outpouring of souls in 140 characters but, just like any relationship, you start to build up a picture of someone through the words they use and how they, in turn, respond to our subsequent rejoinders. You build a relationship. As in ‘real life’, you avoid those who you would naturally filter out of your headspace. They are as identifiable in the blogsphere by the language they use and the views they espouse as anywhere else.
I suppose then this is a reminder to myself to not judge anyone or any group of people from the outside. To at least have knowledge of what goes on in any social circle before dismissing it as beneath notice. That, yes, it is possible to come to care about people one has never met and to regard them as friends. I know. I’ve been there.
Are friends you’ve make
