Reaching Out

Reaching Out

   My wife and I went for a hike yesterday, one that found us sitting at a lake about 9500' up, the fall colors just beginning to peek through, the aspens just beginning to turn.  Accompanying us were a 19 year-old and a pair of 22 year-olds, giving me a chance to ask them what their generation was feeling about the world they were now fully entering (one of the girls was from Australia, the other chap was from Latvia).  What did they think the future held for them regarding earth's changing climate, would its resources last, fracking and coal and pollution, the new world of drugs, technology.  Unfortunately, their answers were less than optimistic.

    I returned home to finish Heather King's book, Redeemed, a book that details her life adventures through drug and alcohol addiction, becoming a high end attorney in Los Angeles, battling breast cancer and watching her father pass away.  It was that last particular chapter that somehow jumped out at me, for she asks, "What does it mean to die with dignity, anyway?"  Looking up the word, she discovered that it comes from the Latin dignitas which means worth or merit.  "I wanted to remember my father when he was vibrant, coherent, pleasing to look at and listen to.  But while it wasn't working out that way, it had never been clearer that I loved him not because of what he could do, know, or understand--but because he existed at all."

   The current wave of apps for today's smart tablets and phones seems to be a surging desire for people to share, albeit in private. Snapchat, Wut, Confide, Secret...and now Whisper.  Described as a smartphone confessional, Whisper lets people express often reserved emotions since, as its CEO Michael Hayward says, "we are all so incredibly insecure."  Soldiers with PTSD, women being abused, drug addicts, gays coming out...as Fast Company put it, "Whispers range from disturbing to heartwarming, from enlightening to asinine."  Hayward keeps a team of 130 moderators to block personal names or hate messages, trying to keep the site open and anonymous.  The number of people using Whisper? -- 6 BILLION each month.

   So what happened to reaching out?  Are we entering a world of hiding, of peeking through curtains and being hesitant to meeting someone face to face, of letting them get to know a bit more about us?  Or are we simply entering a world where we are feeling more and more alone, that in fact we feel that we are reaching out but that there is no one there to listen?  Or perhaps it is simply that no one feels that they have the time to listen?  Parents, friends, family...dogs.  It almost seems that more people are talking to themselves with an earpiece but not paying attention to much else, be it their dog, child or friend in the car.  Best to just take the time to dash off that Whisper.

   Reaching out often takes time, which means again, what in our lives do we want to make time for?  Is it the computer or walking the Camino Real (my friend doing just that is now more than half way through and has met dozens upon dozens of people, most of whom don't speak English)?  Is it as simple as waving at your neighbor and saying hello instead of just turning around?  Or smiling at the cashier?

   Author King found the Catholic Church.  When someone posted a Whisper that read, "If you could ask God one question, what would you ask," CEO Hayward told Fast Company "These people are so annoying." 

   With 6 billion people taking the time to type out a personal message, it would seem that our world is filling with people almost crying out, "I'm here, I'm here...why is no one hearing me?"  For some, reaching out is difficult and comes slowly, almost too slowly to recognize.  But we are all different, and we all reach out in different ways, ways that make us feel comfortable.  But for me (and without being presumptuous), there's a certain dignity in just talking, be it at a table with friends or on a hike with strangers.  The simple fact is that doing so takes time...

   As the song goes, "Reach out and touch somebody's hand...make this world a better place, if you can."