I can hear it now, "How do you Mr. Stewart presume to begin to fathom who I am or know what my needs are? To that I say, "Your Bang-on Right". I shouldn't go around thinking I can diagnose other peoples' problems and prescribe remedies. I just meant it is hard to get to know someone well enough when they only pass you once a week at supersonic speed. And I apprepriate that it takes time and work to develop friendships. That may be the beauty of an old friendship; it took time and effect to build.

Speaking of old friends, a friend of mine from a way back phoned me the other night to talk. He told me he was sick and tired of living alone. My friend is quite disabled and because his social network is kind of small and thin, he's feeling starved for social interaction to the point going squirrely. He is unable to work and he goes to a United Church across town to do volunteer work collating the Church Newsletter but he does not attend Sunday services regularly as he has to rely on public transportation. He was grateful for my suggestion that he might want to consider attending a closer church and thereby strike up some new friendships that would help him cope. The point that stood out for me was that there are real needs right here where we live and a lot of the time we don't see them partly because they are hidden and sometimes because we close our eyes.

RobS

I'm a baby-boomer but I feel like a generation-xer, wounded and autistic, unable to really connect with very many different types of people. I feel this in a personal way but I also understand the way in which the breath-taking pace of life that technological change forces upon us, in the urban jungle we call our city, numbs us all to fully experiencing personal relationships.

This is distressing for me as I'm taught and believe that God chooses to be relational to humans above almost anything else He chooses to do. I'm willing to admit that sin is frequently the cause of these feelings of alienation from others, but still I often feel unsure, uneasy about what I should bring to any one relationship. As if I don't have the ability or right to read the other person's meaning or needs so that I might attempt to be a blessing to them - even in a small way.

There was a so-called "futurist" writer in the '80's by the name of Nesbitt who said that to balance out the relentless push of more complexity brought about by higher technological advancement we consiously had to engage others around us in low touch practices.  This meant more recreational and other types of activities aimed at meeting human needs and refreshing the human spirit that technology can rob from us.

Marshall McLuhan recommended that we all learn about computers so that we knew how to turn them off.

RobS