Distance

I don't know today, maybe just another one of those days that nothing is coming to me to write about. I will just begin and see where I go with it, see if I get inspired enough so that the words just flow. I actually just feel a little run down, almost as if I am getting sick, so I won't dwell on that in this Blog.

I was thinking about the difficulty in a way of communicating from here back home. Even though I have access to the internet and phone there still are many issues. The technology we have is unreliable many days. Low band width is the main problem and as we grow there are too many users clogging up the system. Delays in transmissions are another hassel. Some days there is a ten second delay in what you say and when it is heard. Only through practice can a conversation move smoothly. Sometimes the system just isn't working and you just sit and wait, no way around it at that point. Throw in the eight and a half hour time difference and it is a real hassel.

It just stinks sometimes having something to say, some need of the heart or something of just stupid urgency and no good way to do it. Then when you have a chance, you fight with frequent disconnections and such that just don't help the situation out. Last night Catherine and I tried for an hour to have a ten minute conversation through Skype because the phones were not working. When things finally got working she was already in bed for an hour. Anything unfinished now has to wait.

I think it also in a way, is that all of this just adds to the feeling of distance. When I could use the video portion of Skype at least you could see the person you were speaking with. Now that they don't allow that there is no way of seeing the face and expressions of the other person. A voice is what you know tied to your memory of what they look like. Almost like being in a dark box of sort. As a matter of fact I tend to close my eyes when I am talking so that I can better viualize the other person.

You alaso never have first hand experience of the events in your loved ones lives. You have your own life and they have theirs and it is only after the fact that you become part of it and at that only through hearing about it. Almost like reading a newspaper of your other life. I am glad for my life here but in the same turn my family and friends will never actually be a part of it. They will only hear about it afterwards.

So this feeling of distance sometimes overwhelms me. Not drastically but in a way that you just know that you can't get home quickly. At best, if I started right now, it would be three days for me to be in the States. Remarkable in a way that I can do that but terrible if I had to be home immediately.

In a way, maybe this is indicative of our society and why we just can't seem to connect really personally with those around us. We just don't have to anymore. We sit at computers and emails and never actually have to face each other. We are becoming more accustom to telephone, email and text that we miss out on the good old fashioned face to face. What are we giving our kids? What aren't we giving our kids? Our society is in a way proliferating individual living. Fake if you will people.

Look at Facebook, Twitter and all the rest. They are only allowing to happen what I feel a little of here but people are enjoying it thus it becomes exceptable in our lives. I am not saying it is bad because if used correctly butif it becomes the only way of comunication it will result in more distance in all of our lives.

I would give anything to be able to speak face to face with the people I love. I think maybe it would be good if we start trying to do that more often in our lives rather than in these other forms of information. Try it today if you can.