Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Friends
Date: 02 September 2010 11:41:32
I was discussing the importance of community, and being part of a community of faith the other day. One of the people (an American, he was specifically commenting about maintaining transatlatic friendships.) comment to the effect, it's not the big things that matter, but the little things, it's the while the kettle boils conversations that are important. He went on to comment it's the small details, the mundane details, the few moments catching up while the kettle boils that are the times that help to maintain real friendships. This set me thinking, is this true? I know what he means, it's the little details which give a framework to the big things, that reveal what's important to someone. It's regular time that builds the framework for friendship. How do we ensure that we maintain those relationships that are important and meaningful, when we can't have those kettle boiling moments? Can technology help bridge the gap, or does it widen it? Do we think, everyone knows because it's been on facebook, we've blogged about it, tweeted it, or whatever other form of virtual communication we choose to use. But does that mean that we don't bother with one to one contact, whether that be in person, a phone call, an individual e-mail, text message etc. I know how often I set facebook status that make perfect sense to me, but make little or no sense to others, or are even taken to mean something completely different to others. I was for example a few days ago having a melt down moment, and had set a I will admit obscue status to this effect, but somebody had commented that it was good to see that I was as full of joy as ever. I will then think people know, when really they don't have a clue. The greatest friendship building moments are when we just "hang-out" doing nothing in particular. It's not even the time talking about the deep things that matters, it's time. Time to just be, time to comment on the shapes of clouds, time to eat ice-cream, time to watch the world go by, time to make Mr potato head (that's another story). But how do we have those important moments which build friendships but aren't based on words virtually?