Connecting

I gave myself a little blog holiday, took a week off, thanks for hanging in there.

I hear this word used a lot, “it would be good to connect sometime”, “and we just didn’t connect” she’s “well connected”

One of the challenges I find in living here is remaining connected, I don’t think it’s a physical problem; I see and speak to my friends on a pretty regular basis. Yet sometimes the distance gives me a sense of being disconnected, I hear things that are happening and wish I were there.

I lose a sense of connection in my head, although I have a good friend here on the island I don’t have a broader pool of friendship to dip into.

My friends are meeting up for a beer in London on the 19th it was actually the first time were I really felt a sense of being disconnected, not in the jealous sense, just a wee bit lonely. But then as I sit here my two sons play Xbox with a friend’s son in N.Ireland online and I chat to an old friend in Canada on skype. My sense of disconnectedness lifts.

When my wife worked in Africa in 1986 she had about 3 phone calls with her parents in 7 months and just wrote loads of letters. Technology for me has made the world smaller and enabled me to maintain a greater sense of connecting.

The technology is great but we need people. I need people physical people present in my life.

Flesh and bones real people sitting down together eating together, maybe I am over romanticising it but we need to connect.

For me the worst thing about prison was the sense of disconnect that I experienced, yet I can’t help but think today there are many people who feel this sense of isolation.

I think it gets worst near Christmas. I know a couple who noticed an old man walk up and down their street. They got talking and found out he had no family so they invited him around for Christmas day with their family. A simple act of kindness.

Kindness connects us.