Two Tin Cans

Two tin cans and a string used to be magical. Still I look and I think, maybe they still are. With two cans and a string I have to listen or speak.

We must dance through our conversation. I lead. You follow. I follow. You lead. It ends up a rhythm of give and receive.

Two cans and a string carrying thoughts and laughter.

Two cans and a string turned the corner of my house. We couldn't be more than six feet apart, yet we couldn't see each other. We said we were communicating in outer space. We said we were exploring stars and alien places. I remember feeling like I was listening to you from inside your head. It seemed I could hear your thoughts, each one as it formed. It markedf a special friendship.

Two cans and a string made communication more personal that any cell phone.

It was better than whispering secrets.

−me strauss Letting me be

Everlasting Communication

This week Melly told the story of the brilliant experience of meeting a blogger friend in person for the very first time.

I’ve enjoyed that pleasure three times now. Each time it’s been like meeting someone I’ve known for years. Each time it felt like walking into a conversation that had already started with someone I already knew three-dimensionally, a longtime friend that I just happened to have never met, until then.

I’ve been thinking about that, about why that is, about where that difference begins.

Studies say that well over 50% of our communication is nonverbal – how the message is presented, body language. When communicating over the telephone, one researcher found that 84% of communication is vocal and 16% is verbal.

It makes me wonder how that all changes when we put our thoughts directly on screen or on paper. The route bypasses the need for visual and audio support, because we think through the words we write and put down, and we see the words that we read and pick up.

Something about this virtual world calls out to our thoughts, demanding our undivided attention – demanding we participate in the moment in a way that we can’t, don’t, won’t in the busy, noisy, over-stimulating world that we live in.

Maybe it’s that the smallest communication we write here is everlasting.

What if I spoke to those I love with that sort of presence? What if every word I said was everlasting communication?

−me strauss Letting me be