Living With Other People
Social Non-Interaction
With the explosion of social networks in the last decade, we have interacted with people by liking, tweeting, poking, pinning, and following. With many of these involving interaction with complete strangers. Yet no matter how social you may be in these arenas, you most likely still fail to acknowledge the very person standing right in front of you. The person in line for coffee, passing by on the street, sitting next to you on a bench. The person who is connected to you by presence alone.
Unequal Substitutes
In all of this, in having access to more digital interaction then we can handle, we have chosen to substitute the digital world in place for the actual, which is found in those around us. The ability to connect with other human beings is a dying skill. A skill which should never be lost. We must remember that the human presence will never be able to be replaced by any digital source. The essence of humanity is too unique to develop, program, or invent. There simply is no substitute for it.
Look At Someone And See Them
I implore you too throw up a bridge to connect yourself to others. Develop the skills which have been hibernating among the digital civilization. Look a person in the eyes, smile at them, and show them that you acknowledge their humanity. See them for what they are. A living being. As complex, frustrated, hopeful, and mysterious as yourself. Look at them and really see them.
It Will Never Add Up
No matter how many friends you have on Facebook, how many people enjoy your Instagram, or how many people you follow or follow you on twitter. These will never add up to replace the experience of another human soul. You can be connected to everyone, yet not be able to connect with anyone. Connection is more than a profile or a twitter feed. It is a choice, a choice to be human amongst humanity.
A Man Alone Is Not A Man At All
When someone walks into a room, everything changes. There is something about this presence that beckons us to be human ourselves. This pressure of another, which can change an empty room so drastically. The urging to connect to what we are made to connect with. Without this connection, a man simply cannot find who he is. Alone a man will always be lost. We need the presence of others to help us see our own selves, our own existence, our own humanity.
It Starts With One
In succumbing to the social network revolution, we have found a way to interact in so many ways. Yet ignore the very person whose shoulders we brush, the ones who hold the potential of true interaction. In changing our misguided course, it all starts with one. The acknowledgement of a single person and their humanity. To understand that you don’t live in this world by yourself or with a small group of selected people. But with the whole human race. You do not need to acknowledge the entirety of the human race, but choose to start with one.
The Other Fellow
“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.” – George Bernard Shaw
This quote by George Bernard Shaw truly captures the essence of inhumanity. When you choose to love or hate someone, you are in turn acknowledging their existence, their humanity. But when you choose to ignore the presence of another, to treat them as nonexistent. This contributes to the very thing that we all fear the most, to live in this crowded world, completely alone. To ignore someone is to ignore their existence, who they are. So remember when you pass someone by, to see them for what they are, another life. The other fellow beside you.
Life, keep it simple and live it
Josh