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June 3, 2011

Waving on the Internet

I was thinking this morning about the infinite good will of people. How people bring to their dealings such patience and forgiveness and hope and camaraderie. I was thinking about the web and how it’s this huge cocktail party and all that entails. In the best sense of the word (but also in the worst I suppose). Some will scoff at it all and say it’s very shallow and meaningless, but that’s because that what it is to them.

I think that’s often what my writing is about ~ people reaching out into the void and trying to make connection. Because really, what’s the internet if not an extension of the air around us, another void through which we send out signals, trying to find a receiver?

So in the spirit of offering our gestures to the void, here’s one of the all-time greats.

Not Waving But Drowning
by Stevie Smith

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

PS I'm here, listening. Send out your signals.

Questions of the Day: Do you believe in the inherent goodness of the internet? Or that it’s inherently evil?

2 comments:

Betty said...

That's a tough one, Tamara - I think it is a tool, no inherent goodness or evil. But invented by humans who ought to be called the creatures who connect & communicate rather than tookmakers.

Tamara said...

Very good point, Betty! It is a tool that can be used according to the good or evil of the user. I don't see the two as exclusive of one or another. Tools help us do things better and more efficiently. I have friends now that I never would have had otherwise, which is wonderful!