Online Friendships … More Than Meets the Eye
Somehow, that seems to be the theme, right now. Online communities like ours are waking up to the realization that we’re more than just faceless, often nameless, origins for the words which flow across the medical blogosphere’s monitors. We’ve become 3 dimensional, living, breathing, bleeding … warm friends. There are no ages, no sexes, no races, no cultures … we are all friends who happen to be in different places, but who are coming to know each other as well, if not better, than those we rub elbows with on a daily basis.
In Rob’s post yesterday, he alluded to the diversity of his online friends: “I have friends who are from all over the country - even all around the world. I have Hindu, Jewish, Atheist, and Agnostic friends, where I would have never had such an opportunity to get close to people across so many faiths [...]” Rob is right. Not only have we found diversity in our friendships, those friendships have developed real depth. Here, in our little corner of the blogosphere, we’ve done what the world needs to do if it wants to survive: we’ve built deep friendships irrespective of culture, race, or religion. Our differences have only been a source of wonder and enlightenment … and have expanded us beyond who we were before we stretched ourselves enough to become one thing only: good friends.
Now, I would like to think that we’re exceptional … in fact, in many ways, I do think so … but it appears as if this is a real movement which is picking up momentum as begins to span the world …
This morning, my son sent me a link to an article on SlashDot … “Over-50s Invade the Social Networking Scene“. I laughed when I read it, and quickly chased down and read the full article: “Face it - oldies want chums, too“. It made think … there’s more to all of this than meets the eye …
It’s not just an unprecedented amount of older people making a rush into Facebook … it’s people of all ages making a rush into friendship. Getting to know people … where nothing matters but who you are - not your looks, not your sex, not your age … simply who you are, and how you give yourself to your friends.
I have a sweet friend that I met in the spring of 2006. I’m sure a lot of you remember him: Dr. Hans Engel. He has the In a Doc’s Mind blog. We were in the process of developing a warm, wonderful friendship, when he had a catastrophic stroke just over a year ago. It damaged his reading and writing abilities, and since that’s how we were communicating, I was afraid that we would lose each other. But we haven’t. Our friendship continued to grow, and now we talk several times a week. We’re improbable friends … but oh, how we enjoy our little chats, and each other!
That’s an example of what these friendships are. They don’t end at the keyboard - although some of us haven’t explored them beyond that point, yet.
We’re living in an age when we no longer know our next door neighbors … we have no clue of who lives down the road … or a half dozen doors away. We’re all pressed together like canned sardines on elevators, in restaurants, checkout lines, church and temple benches … but we no longer know one another. The more tightly pressed down we are with the teeming masses in our daily walk, the lonelier we seem to become. The internet, the blogosphere, has provided a way for us to rebel against the aloneness … and here, we find that our hearts are not as solitary, and some of our deepest thoughts, loves, fears … can be shared in this little haven of ours.
Here, it’s not our bodies doing the talking … it’s our souls.
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Nicely put Moof! You and Dr. Rob have put in words what I have tried to tell my “close-in-space” friends, family, and collegues. I am so glad I “met” all of you.
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Dr. Bates, thank you. It’s difficult to express, but I know that we’re all becoming more and more aware of it.
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:27 pm
That almost brought tears to my eyes to read. Both of the posts written between you and Rob, have nailed what has just begun to dawn on me. When I began to interact, it was just quick banter back and forth, but now, the ones I keep close mean so much to me. I hurt when they hurt, I worry when I don’t hear back. I pray when they are in trouble. It’s a wonderful whole new environment. One where you get to know the person first with nothing to look at but the text. I think it’s better that way. We are judged on nothing but our spirits, and after all our spirits are who we really are. Great posts as always Moof. I am honored to have met all of you.
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Amen.
November 4th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Eloquent as ever Ms. Moof :)
November 5th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Good post my lovely friend on the other side of the continent. And, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? You and I and all others who do this stuff have become connected to so many people, with diverse ideas, and yet we read each other and, in effect, ‘listen’ to each other. There isn’t much that gives this tired old planet hope, but I think this is one element that brings us together.
I love my blogger friends, even though I’ve only met a couple of them in real time. Yet, I feel fully (in this realm at least) connected with all the others. I am concerned about their woes and rejoice in their happiness. You and I are tied with blogging and tied via Facebook, and maybe sometime we’ll cross physical paths.
Thank you again for this.
November 5th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
There’s so much to be said for the explosion of online communications. All I know for sure is that I’ve been part of reading blogs long enough to keep an eye on the stories a few of my “regulars” post (yes, you are included in that group!), and I worry when there is a long stretch of time without any posting.
You have a special place among the bloggers I read, though…I like to think of you as a “virtual grandma”. Though you’re probably not literally old enough to fit that description, the character in your writing and the warmth in your online persona make that concept totally plausible IMHO. I’ve met some truly interesting people in the blogosphere, and I even gained a friend IRL through participation in a Yahoo group. There are so many things that make online connections easier for certain kinds of people, myself included. Caution is always the rule, but it’s a nifty thing nonetheless.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Amen sister. :D if i didn’t have my virtual life i’d have no life at all. :D
November 30th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Moof, it was a pleasure recently to actually meet in person a fellow blog/friend. I like her even more now. Someday maybe I’ll get to meet you in person. I would love that. :)