Painting With Light

“The Mailbox” © R.L. Herron

We live in a “connected” age and that, I have to admit, is a very good thing. Technology has us chatting with people around the globe and I enjoy that ability as much as anyone.

But I cannot help feeling there is something missing.

As terrific as it is to be able to see and talk to my grandkids via Skype, it cannot replace being able to touch them, or tossle their hair. It cannot replace their fresh scent following a shower, or their chocolate kisses after a treat.

The same thing is true of friends (although most of them don’t have a chocolatey aroma). What I mean is, you cannot see their smile in an email or a tweet, or hear the inflections in their voice.

Despite the fact we are now able to connect over vast distances, it is all very impersonal, almost cold.

Sadly, the practice of writing long, involved letters on nice paper has all but disappeared.

Things like my wife used to do when we were dating; dabbing her note with a spot of perfume (Ambush), so the letter would smell subtley of her, have almost vanished.

Being connected over great distances by technology is truly wonderful but all too often we seem to communicate with everyone that way.

It may be fine in the business world, but I miss knowing my friend is laughing, without having to see LOL in his email. When was the last time any of us said “lol” anyway?

I’ve begun to think it is time I wrote that long letter to a few friends. Actually write it out longhand instead of merely selecting the email font and typing. I feel a need to send them something substantial from me, instead of a digital word count.

I’m sure some of them will question why I didn’t just email. Even as I write this, I wonder why I don’t pick up the phone and call, even if everyone lets calls go to voicemail now, anyway.

But even a phone call seems too distant. I miss the face-to-face element of communication. The reaching out and touching.

As a matter of fact, it’s a sunny afternoon, and now that I’m thinking about it, I may go speak to my neighbor. No email. No Facebook notice. No tweet.

I’ll simply get up out of my chair, walk across the street, interrupt him from his computer and say “hello.”

He’ll probably say “OMG!”

This entry was posted on March 21, 2010 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Branding, Non-Fiction Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.