BE MY FRIEND ON "-----????" HUH? WHO ARE YOU?

http://jenniferluitwieler.com/slideshow/soli-deo-gloria-retreat/

This  a celebration of the 500th "Thought."  The "Thought" is one that I have had for about five years now.  I have not considered it for publication here because I find it difficult to keep my "cool" when I entertain it.  It usually wins that battle, and IT entertains ME.  Since this is not a forum for my rants, I have stayed away from it.  Not any more, because something happened today to cause a conversion.  You know what Catholics say, "There's nothing worse than a convert!"  

With one eye on the picture above and a corner of your brain on the words, here we go.

Like I said, about five years ago I got a thought because it was fired across my bow, so to speak.  An individual who was taking part in an Internet discussion made the mistake of calling me "friend" because he had what he thought was important personal information about me.  I fried his eggs in a nano second and I haven't heard from him since.  Much to his relief, I am sure.  I sure don't miss him, whoever he may be.  The essence of my convictions about friendship is: If I don't know you, we are not friends. That was five years ago. 

I remember it like it was yesterday.  The reason why it is so vivid in my memory is because a blogger whom I respect and appreciate has shut down.  Because of this, there is a large void inside of me.   When I analyze my feelings I find a couple more people in the ethereal world with whom I really relate on a couple of meaningful levels without ever having laid eyes on them.  These are not "casual" acquaintances.  They have been around in my life for at least two or three years.  If they shut down, I would have the same forlorn yearnings for their return as I do for the person who left yesterday.

In case that you may be wondering, I will tell you that "Yes, it does work both ways."  I have come to dislike certain pixelated personalities and dismissed them early on as fools "up with which I would not put." [Winston Churchill]  This too is a part of my conversion.  If I can learn to dismiss you from my life, I should be honest enough to accept the fact that I can also welcome you into it.  

Yes, even over the Internet.

I have at least one example of each. 

A young man who is quite outspoken [I like that] and seriously intellectually honest [I like that] and I have come to like and respect one another.  It is not because we are "sweet" with one another.  On the contrary.  We have polarized views on many things, mainly religious things.  We are "birds of a feather."  What comes out of our mouth is what comes out of our brain and heart without embellishment.  Take it or leave it.  We both soon found out that neither was offended by what the other postulated.  We have met in person a time or two and we really do like one another, besides and plus, respecting one another.  It all happened over the Internet. 

A woman who is also quite outspoken [Ad hominem and defensive] and I, no longer bother to communicate because it is no use.  There are many reasons for this.  The core of the reality is in the first sentence.  Oh, we did give it a half-hearted try, but I decided that I did not want to suffer it any more.  Done.

I have come to accept the fact that is possible to achieve a certain depth of friendship on the Internet.  It is also possible to develop an "esprit-de-corps" on the Internet as well.  For the past five months I have been working for a company that is based in Brussels, Belgium.  It is a company that provides professional translations in many languages.  I have qualified for certain pairs of languages and I do translations and proof reading for the enterprise.  Over the five months I have come to "know" the team and they have to "know" me.  I have also come to "know" certain translators and vice versa.  If I am in the throes of a serious conversion it is greatly due to my experience with this richly international community of cosmopolitan individuals.  

I am thankful that this is happening to me.  It helps to make me realize that my life has taken on a dimension of outreach that I never expected could or would ever happen.  This simple blog alone is read every day in ten countries that I know of.  Every day I work with people in at least five countries, simultaneously, when the small window of congruent waking hours is open, of course. 

Given all of this, I still have one question: Why am I still not sold on Facebook?