Before there was social networking where now anyone can be expressive and tell the world just who they are and how they think only those we saw and who saw us in the flesh on a regular basis really knew much about us. What they might have been curious about they would have needed to either observe or learn through conversation. I think back to the people that were in various ways special to me, and especially all that made my own life richer or fuller by really knowing them and it occurs to me they would have just been other people had it not been for the time and effort we invested in one another to accomplish what has mattered so much.
As for the ways people come to know each other on social networking sites; it is only through watching a few sentences or images on a daily basis that one or the other posts, but at best it is only a glimpse into who they truly are. Nevertheless, it is a thread for many that tethers them to people they admire and some they hope will admire them for what they believe either sets them apart from others or makes them similar in ways perceived admirable.
In that regard we can all become authors of personal stories that tell a world of strangers who we are and tales of adventures we have taken or will take, that without social networking few outside our inner-circles would know or care to know.
Most of the folks I interact with in Cyberland are people I really don't know and very few that know me. As for what they know about me...well, like them, it is only those selective sentences and images of a much more complex person that I am willing to share that describes who I want them to believe I am, and almost always only what I think are my best qualities. The darker and less appealing aspects of me isn't often on display for others to judge; only what I can easily defend or anything not so important that it should matter one way or the other to anyone.
In various incarnations of what I want others to know about me I have been a radio announcer, a cop and most recently a writer. If I am skilled at this craft or if I was in the other two has always been for someone else to decide but whatever anyone's conclusions may be it really doesn't matter because I have always chosen paths that were personally satisfying and that tested me in ways I was curious enough to experiment with.
This blog and the books I have written are the true medium for expression for me.
In the old days, before the internet and other venues that allow us to speak out or simply empty what is in our heads for others to see about all that was available were newspaper or magazine forums such as letters to the editor or talk-formats on radio that allowed listeners to call in and vent or just weigh-in on a particular topic. But shortly after we entered the 21st Century that all changed and so did many's willingness to expose who they truly are. It went from a willingness to a desire or an obsession for a lot of people until eventually too many learned too much about them!
So whether it is places like Facebook, Twitter or any other method available to dole out words that convey what is on our minds, the cyber world has created an abundance of writers who have discovered like I have just how easy it is to impart short stories or share personal abbreviated biographies that tell others who we are, what we think and what our goals and hopes are.
There is no bottom line to this post beyond pointing out what should be obvious; most of what we all write is meaningless to anyone besides the people who already know us! That is unless we take those first few words or sentences to a full paragraph and then another and then another until it all comes together to tell more complete stories and really exposes who we are.
Every time someone writes a blog, sends a text message, or a tweet or only responds in writing to something someone else says they launch new experiments that test their own writing skills even when the may not be doing it on purpose and even if they don't know they are doing it. What is important is it feels right at the time, and it leaves us with a feeling of confidence that we could tell someone something whether it matters to them or not, or only because we feel a burning desire to get something off our chest.
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