In Word or Deed

Photo by Marcus Wallis on Unsplash I heard on the radio today the idea that we as a society have downplayed the importance as well as the role of friendship. The commentator went on to argue that what we have done is relegate all intimacy to only one kind of relationship, namely a romantic one. Having done so we have cut ourselves off from a major aspect of life and one that is of critical importance to our health and our development; physically, mentally, and spiritually. I’ve had some time to reflect on this and I cannot help but agree. We as people have slowly grown further and further apart or at least it seems to be that way. Nearly everyone I’ve talked to agrees that these days it would be practically unthinkable to strike up a conversation with a stranger in the checkout line or in a park or on a bus. We have been trained to not ‘bother’ anyone else and that any intrusion into our day by someone we do not already know is unwanted, disrespectful, and weird.

We don't like to be out of control. Generally speaking, humans are very control oriented creatures and when things begin to slip out of our grasp we quickly become irritated, uncomfortable, and concerned. This is easily proven by examining nearly any random individual you care to look at deal with many of the minor inconveniences that assail us on any given day. Imagine, for example, that you are driving down a two lane road that does not allow for passing and you find yourself behind someone who -for whatever reason- has decided to drive five or ten miles below the posted speed limit. If you are anything like myself you will last perhaps five minutes before your opinion of the person in the car ahead has dropped drastically and in another few minutes you'll be devising all manner of creative nicknames for them. We don't like to be out of control, we don't like things simply happening -to- us, we don't like not being in charge; and I can't