Chris Herrington, Contributing Writer
One day, earlier in the summer, I got caught up in a flurry of conversations on Facebook, and I spent 18 straight hours writing to a cornucopia of friends, detractors, family members, and new people I had never heard of or from before. I abandoned my meat life for my cyber life for almost an entire day. Even the cat only sauntered into the room, meowed a muffled insignificance, and eventually merely turned to face the TV, which had gone through its pre-selection process in rotation without a human viewer. That day is documented: June 17, 2011.
p style=”text-align: justify;”> Since then, I have had several days where I hit 8 hours, but that singular day stands out as the most intoxicated of the bunch. It’s a good thing no one needed anything else from me, my hobbies left fallow, my yard baking in the heat, my racquetball partner taking a day, my wife off to work and then a meeting that night. Early on Facebook and later still writing makes a man intensely focused but lugubrious.
p style=”text-align: justify;”> Since then, I have had to get a new chair for the computer room. The bar that held up the cushion on the seat of the chair was all that was left; the stuffing had flattened out to nothing and my back started to hurt. Even now I am having to do exercises and apply Tiger Balm pads to assist me so that I can type. I have simply been typing my brains out.
p style=”text-align: justify;”> Since then, I have added another 700 people to my Facebook page, hitting nearly a 1000. What in the world must these folks be thinking? And the links they give me to new music and new art, and political, social justice, and educational movements! It’s like having a staff of library assistants at my fingertips. Many are ex-students who have wished me well on my retirement and who now feel free to tell me how they really feel or want to know if I can help them on a new project at college or whatnot, and that feels really good. But, there are a bunch of people I have never met who want to be friends, or disagree, or check my thinking, or pick a fight, or get my point of view. Oh, yeah, they are out there!
p style=”text-align: justify;”> Politics, economics, history, religion, art, poetry, society, language, education….family and schooling issues…it’s like we seem to touch on everything. And I’m totally interested in everything, although I still can’t dance country western style, I don’t read music, and I am not at all mechanical…Oh, and I do not watch or keep up with sports, at all. One of the things I love to do is to kick in on a conversation that is already ongoing. And here’s my two cents…..Bam! And then some will go, “Yep, exactly.” And some will go, “Is that some more of your hippy logic?” And then we have to go around and around or whatever. It’s fun, stimulating, and interesting.
p style=”text-align: justify;”> My friends sometimes think I am crazy to get into these extended conversations with these windbags and morons. On the contrary, I find that it is good to see what others have to say. I don’t know it all, regardless of how I may come off. I talk like a school teacher, where it is imperative that you have such confidence in your voice and yet have the ability to completely switch gears if better information is handed to you, since that is only intellectually honest and the best role modeling you can do for those you teach. It is what we are asking of others when we try to convince them, and yet we ourselves do not listen to what others say since it might endanger our fortress of self-satisfaction. I want to continue to grow.
p style=”text-align: justify;”> I have had a few moments where I thought otherwise about my own path, sensibilities, and sensitivities. A few people have managed to give some insights, change my mind, and, in a few cases, my heart. I am stubborn and relentless, ruthless and single-minded, but I appreciate a well-thought concept and especially a good video. And I appreciate those who scour the web for news, music, insights, graphics, and entertainment. Every new person on Facebook is essentially a tendril out into the world with a nose for things odd and different that I might never have noticed or come into contact with. A 1000 people all going haywire in their own directions increases the chances that I will run into something new, although many of them will give the same thing over and over.
p style=”text-align: justify;”> We have all had that coincidence where the same thing is sent from several friends on the same day. The blogosphere and the Twitter crowd all belong to news services and entertainment sites that fractal out the slogan of the day like a 100,000 face to face mirrored reproductions. I love to find out where people get their news by Googling their statements and slogans. I can hear people reiterating the Drudge Report… http://drudgereport.com/ It’s like listening to someone with a recording of what they have to think…Or Fox News….But you hear the same jokes from Colbert or The Daily Show too….Facebook is the new water cooler I guess. But, beneath the blather of all of that repetition, we can hear some people actually making sense of it all. These few people are intriguing in that they actually digest what is out there. They quote from FreespeechTV or Link or UCTV but other sources too. Try Huffington, but then try something like http://www.blacklistednews.com/ .
p style=”text-align: justify;”> The point here is that as I get older, I need more input, not less. I am not tired of living, and I want my brain to function well into the future. I’m not going to listen to just one source, and I appreciate what Facebook and other social media have brought into my life. But, I am not going to forget to stay healthy all the way around, so I’m having a protein drink, and getting on my new bike. I bought a Trek 4300…24 speed, plenty of gear, and I’m hitting the trails, and when I get back, I’ll check my e-mail, look at my Facebook page, look at what I have DVRed, listen to a lesson from Great Courses, and cross reference my day with the latest on how they allowed Coach Fashid to slip out the door…what a bunch of morons!
runningturtle87
