Connect.
I am unlimited.
These are two mantras used by a new advertisement selling me a cellphone and a data plan to go with it. People want and need connection. To know and feel wanted and loved. Whether you are introverted or extroverted is not the issue here. We are all of us wired for relationship. Our most prized inventions of the age are geared towards creating connections. This keyboard, screen, server, and software all work together so that my small voice might have a place on this great public forum known as the internet. A series of lights, sounds, and code all go into making what I want to say legible to a wide audience of which you are included. Strange isn't it? You may not know who I am or what I look like but we have achieved something together be it small and mostly one-sided (granted you could leave a comment at the end and we could see what happens? I leave that up to you).
My goal with this blog is to get beyond just surface talk. In the past year or so I have had a rocky experience with technology. I logged off of facebook for about two or three months last year and then went to work in a National Park for three more months which habituated me to phone calls and snail mail it was glorious! Having now been back in the land of wifi waves and colorful pixels I've been experiencing withdrawal effects. Friends, don't post on my wall or allow me to passively tell you how I have been through a few witty status updates. I don't and I won't.
I've known for some time now that I am most myself when my pen is to paper. I like the strain of a long letter on my right hand. It reminds me of the work a relationship takes even in the small acts. I like the smell of the ink. The sound of folding the paper in thirds to fit in the envelope which I taste so slightly that my work might make it to the intended destination unsoiled.
I work on relationships in my life. I am limited in my ability to connect not because I choose to be that way, but because I am simply finite. No phone, computer, or pen will change the fact that I cannot relate to all of you the way we both deserve. I have to choose who I will relate to in time, because I am nothing more than one singular person in one place.
I am trying something new yet old with some of my closest friends. This new practice will continue to grow and mature relationships. To grow and mature in relationships we have to stop asking ourselves what we will get out of a relationship, but how is this relationship changing us. We must contribute a piece of who we are in relationships if there is to be any meaning in it. Failing to do that will simply make us consumers of one another. We will literally suck the life out of one another. I cannot contribute to some forms of communication much anymore, because I resent the ease of it. The ease of facebook erases the joy and pain of relationships. I easily forget the physical distance circumstance has made for me and my friends when I am on facebook. I was not pained by the reality because the reality was I could just stare at their profile picture and remember a few good times we had together and feel as though we got it together. I want to work for my relationships and really feel the pain and joy that comes with them. This has led me to challenge my limited self to connect.
The challenge is to write and connect. This blog is only the surface of what is going on in my head. All of us attempt relationship and want to be wanted by others. Relationship is when a connection between people causes them to change one another. Relationship also highlights who people are already and accentuates the character of everyone involved. Relationship is an amazing force in all of our lives. Are you relating to people? Are you being transformed in your relationships? To what end are these transformations leading both of you? Reflect on these questions. Are you both pained and joyous in your relationships?
I am keeping this blog. I'll be on facebook little. I invite you to connect with one another. I challenge you to value your word and your relationships. I ask that you step away from the pixels now as I prepare to walk away from the keyboard and remember that you and I both have the opportunity to relate to those around us and dear to us. Be present.
Be Blessed
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