If I could take your pain away, I would. I would shoulder it myself so that I could see your smile again, and see the light shining in your eyes without the veil of sadness covering it up. I don't like to see your tears.
I've been reminded recently, in various ways, about how the advent of technology has been not only wonderful, but can be the cause of misunderstandings, pain and hurt feelings. And I have seen how the written word in this "safety behind a technological wall" can shatter dreams.Innocence is lost here. Or is it that the word has taken on an entirely different meaning in these modern times? A fine, thin line is all that remains, and is too easily crossed.
The tie that binds gets stretched taut, until it is hanging together by nothing more than a thread. If it breaks, then you had better know how to tie the strongest knot possible if it is ever to be bound again.There is danger deep within these bits and bytes, these zeros and ones. Unfortunately, we don't always see it. When did the bits and bytes become a free-for-all that we see as our own "plastic bubble"?
When I brought up my mail website this morning, I saw an article about how Facebook had yanked the account of some girl who had posted a photo of herself in a bathtub -- they yanked it because her elbow "looked like a nipple". Really. How very noble and protective of you to be so concerned about my sensibilities to prevent me from seeing something that may look like a nipple. Awww, why thank you! So I then open my Facebook and there on the righthand side is a feed of "suggested friends, chosen just for (me)!" People I may be interested in sending a friend request to! Isn't that nice of them to hand-pick these people for me?
The problem is, of course, that the one listed had as her photo of herself with this skimpy little shirt on, huuuuuge boobs popping out, hands cradling them and pushing them out, mouth open in an "o" ... hmmmm obviously Facebook feels we have much in common. Perhaps she plays the one game I do, Disney's Animal Kingdom? Perhaps she's interested in travel and cooking ... yes, that must be it! That *must* be why Facebook is suggesting we should be friends.
*sigh*
Social media. It's a wonderful concept, in and of itself. It has so many good points to it. Over my many years of traveling, it has enabled me to stay in touch with the people in my life, a great way to let them know where I am, what I'm seeing. It has also enabled me to renew old friendships with people I went to high school with so very, very many years ago, and those I have met at other times in my life and over my years of travel. Some have even rebuffed my invitation to "get back in touch after all these years". And that's okay, too. I remember when you would meet someone and exchange physical addresses -- now we exchange email addresses and say "are you on (facebook/any other social media)?" We share our lives, our hopes, our cherished memories. So yes, it can be a very good thing.
It's an extension of this thing we call technology.
Feeling bored one evening with nothing much to do? Go to Wikipedia and type in the search term "physical" and start following links. Physical will take you to physic which will take you to physics which will take you to ... well, a few hours later and you are deep into the laws of physics and then reading about black holes in space and ... what, you were hoping to do a couple searches before going to sleep? It's now 3 a.m. and you are wide awake because you clicked a couple links and trying to wrap your head around the concept of wormholes or some such thing.Or you searched for where to find some ingredient and a few hours later you are waking everyone in the house up with the noise of your cooking some strange dish you happened upon after ten link clicks and all the recipes and photos were making you hungry! And you thought you were just going to do a simple search ;-)
Technology...the Internet...social media.
The absolute wealth of information that is out there, just waiting to be discovered. Learn a new language, or how to solve a complex mathematical problem, or drive yourself crazy counting the number of squares. Learn the latest medical, psychological, sociological advancements; become a hypochondriac and worry yourself by reading about medical symptoms. Happen upon a video of past or present citizen protests against this, that or the other thing, standing against their government and making a change -- it makes us cheer them on, and gives us hope. Look at photos, watch videos of plane crashes before you're about to take a flight ... oh, wait, maybe that's not the greatest of ideas ... okay we'll skip those. Back to the videos of animals doing silly things, puppies and kittens making us smile and laugh and feel all gooey inside and melting our hearts. Click on any of the "free hug" videos and restore our faith in humanity's basic goodness.Wait, what's this? How to make a bomb and where to get the stuff you need to do so. Hmm.
Such a double-edged sword is this thing called technology. A place where such wonderful and good things are embedded among the bad. The ability is here to hide, to lock ourselves into this invisibility and anonymity and, indeed, innocence.
But be careful of the barbed wire fence surrounding this space. Contained within is a world covered in landmines. I wonder if these bits and bytes should come with a warning label ... beware of landmines. Do we know what is hidden inside? We think we do. We say that we are grown-up and "not stupid". But how easy it is to get sucked in -- to say "there is no mine here" and then we take a step. And, unknowingly to us in our innocence, unaware of the unexploded mine buried deep within, we exert the pressure ... just enough pressure ... to blow the solid into bits that rise into the air and rain down onto our heads. And all of a sudden we are standing in the midst of an elaborate puzzle -- one we hope to be able to put back together again.
We have to enter this realm remembering that we are all, in the end, human -- with the same basic needs, thoughts and desires and, most of all, feelings. We can allow this wonderful medium to enrich our lives, increase our intelligence, make us stronger emotionally -- but we have to try to not allow ourselves to get snagged on that barbed wire, to watch where we step, and to not fall victim to the emotional dangers that lie hidden within. Enjoy the wonders, but remember all those around us.
