December 30, 2008

• Suprised by Similarity

  This is the fourth in a series titled "Internet Lessons of '08"

  A short, chipper entry for today, leading up to tomorrow's final entry of the year (eh, maybe, if I don't get too busy). There is one aspect of the Internet that gives me great joy, and that is finding pieces of "yourself" in the oddest places. (I deliberately put "yourself" in quotes--not necessarily you now, but you both past, present, future, and imagined). You know, many times we think "Oh, does anyone think the same way I do?" just because we can't think of anyone in our everyday lives who agrees with us. But then, one comes on the Internet, opens a blog or plays a video...and there's a moment of connection with a complete stranger. This feeling that "Yes, we are both human, we walk the same ground, we have had the same thought or experience." It makes you less of a stranger in the world and at peace with yourself, if only for that moment.

  Oh, I could do a long post on the bad side of this--how staying in one sterile and opinionated group can make you biased and bitter. But instead, I prefer to think of how often I've opened a new post or blog and beamed a contented smile as I felt a moment of human connection. Oftentimes it's with people who I seem to have little in common with. We don't share the same god, the same gender, or the same tax bracket. But we somehow make it across all those barriers to find something we can agree on, and we clasp hands for one moment of shared fellowship.

  We all are built for community, for knowing and being known. No matter how introverted, reticent, or misanthropic you may consider yourself to be, you can't escape this. And so I am thankful for all those moments where I could clearly understand your heart, dear reader, and found something to admire in it, found emotions that we shared, and found a fellowship of sorts. For this, I am thankful.

  • 5:55 pm
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