Thursday, April 11, 2013

Social networks vs. REAL community

One of the hardest things for us to give up when we left Texas was our community.  Not the town.  That wasn't hard.  We lived in Sachse...let that sink in for a minute.  Sounds a whole lot like sexy...but I digress.

No, it was the sense of community created by close friends doing life together that we miss.  We lived close to one another, shared meals, helped with kids...we were purposefully in each other's business.  That's not something easily found and certainly hard to leave.

A true sense of community is extremely lacking in today's society, but if you believe social media we are supposedly more "connected" than ever.  A "friend" is only a mouse click or text away.  If true connection is happening then why do more people than ever admit to feeling alone and isolated?  I can have 1,000 "friends" on FB and not be known by a single one.  Let's face it, most of us don't put our real faces out there to be "liked" and commented on by all.  Instead, we put out the bits and pieces we want people to see.  Maybe we're afraid the reality of our lives will cause rejection...maybe we think the truth of our lives isn't exciting enough to be FB worthy...or maybe we're just so unhappy with our current reality that we paint something more along the lines of what we'd like to have.  Whatever the reason, the connections happening on social media do not usually represent true community.

We want to know people; REALLY know people and be known by them.  We want to believe we can share our junk with those closest to us and they won't run away screaming, but will sit with us in the midst of it all.  The reality is we NEED each other.  Not in a "how you doin'?" Facebook sort of way, but in a "get in your business" sort of way.  We need people willing to walk through depression, cancer, addiction, marital struggles, parenting issues...whatever our junk looks like.  People who don't come wearing high heeled, pointy toed shoes they aren't willing to get dirty.  Nope, I want people in my life who come in wearing mud boots.  Maybe even hip waders.  Let's face it - life's messy.  Living through the mess surrounded by true community makes the stinky mess a whole lot more bearable.  

So if you're in my life, I thank you...and I hope you're wearing your mud boots.

4 comments:

  1. hope you don't mind i shared your writing this morning, angela. so eloquent and so true. hope you and your beautiful family are doing well up north!

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  2. Great Brooke! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. So totally agree...and am so happy we get to be in each other's lives. Sad that we live so far apart, 'cause I know we would have fun together!

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