Community

How important is community to human beings? How important is it to belong? Being told over and over again that we are social, I would think they both are pretty damned important. How important however, is local community? What differences result from being a part of a local community versus a part of a global community?

I wonder this because in conversation this morning with my grandparents, we were discussing how the kids, and even older folk, rarely get out in the winter any more getting together to ice skate, cross country ski, or some other form of socializing. There really is such a huge disconnection between members of local communities. Most everyone lives in their own little world, which especially is connected through electronics. It is helped fueled by creating online communities, online social networks, like Facebook and MySpace. What is the result of this? Is it for the better? Is this part of human evolution on our way to a grander state of being? Will the transition be painful? Looking at the world around me, I have to believe it is...

Diversity

This topic has been floating around in my brain for months. I know I won't hit it exactly as I want - I am not that eloquent in expressing myself.

Biodiversity is a strong indicator of how the world is doing, naturally speaking. If areas of high biodiversity are suffering, then we are doing something wrong in this world that is causing areas that are very specifically evolved to suffer.

Can the same be said about humanity? The USA is one of the more highly diverse societies in the world. I am not saying that other cultures are highly accepted, but take a look at cities like New York City, Houston, Los Angeles ... they have tons of people of differing cultures. They are very diverse. This country has the potential to be great - but we do not accept our diversity or the strength in it. It was a country founded on freedom, but a country that currently only focuses on Christianity. That is a problem - what ever happened to a division between church and state? Who cares if God blesses us? That is not what this country is about. It is about freedom, which manifests itself as diversity.

We, like highly biodiverse countries, are a marker like the canary in the mine. If this country begins to suffer, if we are dying off, then the rest of the world will have problems. Why? Because we are the rest of the world, come to chase its dream. But have formed as a melting pot.

Melting pots heat up substances, seperating the waste from the good. Are we trying to prove that one religion, one race is the best? Or are we trying to prove the power that humanity as a whole, humanity working together has?

Chasing Elodie

This is ridiculous. A girl that I used to email many, many years ago, about ten years to be exact has been haunting my mind the past month or two. We were only friends, at best. Then her email address became unreachable. So ten years pass, and I never tried to get in touch.

All of a sudden this past month, I've sent out 50-75 messages on Facebook to all the women named Elodie. It's unfortunate that I am unable to hunt based on the location, which would be France, but c'est la vie. There also have been messages sent via other social networking websites ... maybe one of them will eventually find her. Or maybe this post will help!

So the big question is: why am I doing this? Am I really that desperately wanting some female companionship? It's probably no secret that I am desperately wanting female companionship. And certainly, this is half of the desire behind hunting for her - to just see what happens.

There is also a woman who invades my dreams, calling to me as my soul mate, my anam cara .. in that world, she is called Nikarik ... or that is as close as I can make out the name from the phonetics I know. She is dark haired, blue eyed, pale yet healthy skinned. Kind, compassionate, caring, not expecting anything of me but to love her. Supportive, and able to converse with me, which is difficult. hah!

Yes, she is a dream, literally. But figuratively as well. It keeps me going, thinking that I will not be alone in life. And in fact, in my mind, I am not alone. There is that special companion that makes me whole.

Does this make me crazy? Oh yes, without a doubt. But it's also how I manage through life, causing no harm to others.

We all kind of live in our own worlds, worlds that exist only in our minds. It is a great thing. This is how we deal with realities that can be extremely difficult to deal with, providing us with hope and vision. These worlds perhaps even develop into a goal for us, their development a desire we wish to accomplish, a piece of us we leave behind in a fleeting life. And none of that is bad, so long as we are harming nothing else ...

So, I will continue chasing my Elodie. Someday, perhaps I will find her, and will be the right man for her from the lessons learned during the chase.