The world is not an electronic one. BY KATE

It's been a long time that I was aware of the electronic world. Believe it or not, I was turned down a job offer years and years ago because I was proficient on Windows and with using a mouse. Why was I turned down? The world was not aware of Windows or using a mouse yet, so the interviewer actually gave me a strange look. I was actually asked "What is Windows?"

The electronic world has exploded, for better or for worse. I can now sit in my pj's and shop for fresh lobsters from Maine while ordering coffee directly from the producer while staring at current pictures of the Sistine Chapel. Amazing.

Yet the electronic world has afforded many bad things to the world, like stealing persons secret information stored on their computers, ie credit card and personal info. Or, worse yet, it has afforded a new front for child molesters, persons who traffic in humans for prostitution or sale, or hiring someone to kill your spouse by posting an ad on Craigslist. And the electronic world has afforded new opportunities for persons to hurt the ones they supposedly love the best.

Secret rendezvous with old high school friend, private messages which seem innocent enough at first. Persons engage in things online that they would never have the courage to do in person, or at least without the help of alot of alcohol. They hurt each other fervorishly in some misguided attempt to inflate the value of their own life or to seek meaning for their life or to seek harbor for unrequited issues.

There used to be a sacredness to life. I know it first hand for I visited some no name church in France once, just passing it in a car and said "I want to go in!" And so we stopped, my husband and I. In it I saw an incarnation of the Virgin Mary. I had seen it in books on art and religion. And it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.

It was not a particularly accurate representation, as it was from the Middle Ages. Not like a near photo rendering from a Michelangelo sculpture. But it was no less perfect. And in the fervor and dedication to something outside of themselves to create this representation it was utterly breathtaking. It was no less than the Virgin Mary herself.

I could reach out to it, touch it, though I knew persons constantly doing this could eventually degrade it, I found it hard not to reach forward to touch one of the two people most loved by God himself.

Via the absolute dedication and resolve to create this masterpiece it resonated. It vibrated. It shimmered. It was alive. God was there, in it. Love was there, in it. All of life, before, now and forever after were in it. I was there, in it, as were every other human before, now and to be born after me.

It was God on Earth himself, as if the burning bush ignited right before me.

It was real.

There are no such images created today. We no longer hold much sacred outside of ourselves, our own selfish interests and wants, desires and passions. We are islands unto ourselves, although you could barely tell with all the electronic chabber babble crap uttered today. People posting every silly, stupid, inane thought they've ever had. The meaningless of it all is without bounds.

So here are God and Christ and the Virgin Mary forever marked in a work of art, sitting in a church erected by hand with stones carved by hand in glorious panes of glass emulating angels, again all by hand.

And today....we chatter.

But, funny, oh so funny that they equal the same.

The are two very different explorations of the exact same need.

Do you not get it? Do you not understand?

We need meaning. We need purpose. We need to know we are noticed, loved, cherished, heard, missed, embraced. We have thoughts in our head and so desperately want someone to hear them, to value them. And when we cease to find that value in our home we search elsewhere.

To God.

Or to chatter.

One is a worthy pursuit, as it takes us outside of ourselves, challenges us to NOT put ourselves as the center of the Universe, to give until it hurts, to turn the other cheek, to believe and give to something of value even when it does not directly give back to us.

Even when it may never give back.

The other is a sad attempt to find meaning in the absolutely meaningless. Misguided - often. Dangerous - often.

Hollow.

The Internet has allowed persons from all over the world to connect. At one time I was able to talk someone back from the edge, someone who felt life's meaning had evaded them. To that end, yes, it serves purpose.

But the chatter has become the electronic version of the American habit of asking "How is it going?" to every stranger knowing full well you neither really want to hear nor really care for the answer. And yet we call ourselves oh so polite. We pat ourselves on the back for being good people. Like the done to death custom of putting a ribbon on your car or chest for every cause under the sun so you can feel you are making a difference, so you can show the world "Look at me! I care about these things so I am a good, important person!"

Hollow.

So why do we do it? Easy. Instant gratification that someone is always there at any moment to comment on anything we say or do, giving us a sense of worth and meaning. Easy. Instant.

Versus days of ol' when life's meaning was a lifelong pursuit of dedication to family, children, vocation, and God. There was no instant gratification save for the smile of a child, or the loving touch of a spouse. Or at times, the dark times, during prayer when you could feel the warmth of God surround you even when you knew you were losing the battle back on Earth via death, illness, destitution. But there was still meaning.

But it's a long, hard road, dedication to family, dedication to God, or, if God makes you uncomfortable, call it dedication to goodness, mercy, charity, love, patience, giving, soft voices, partnership, stewardship - to life.

I once knew a guy who boasted of how many women he had gotten to (aka tricked into) sleep with him. He was so proud. I told him the value of the man isn't based on how many women went to bed with him but how many were willing to wake up with him - day after day after day after day.

He didn't like that. I bet he's a big chatter chatter to this day.

The tortoise or the hare?

Good or evil?

Creation or destruction?

It is a war, a war of meaning, a war of value, a war of devotion. We are so devoted to ourselves that we post on oh so public forums everything we do with a big "Look at me!" Very little do I see posts of "Look at them!" or "Look at her!" It's nice when you see someone celebrating their family, celebrating devotion, celebrating love. But, for the most part, people post because they hope to hell someone posts about them. If I say something about Jim's new bike or Sue's new hair or dress then he'll/she'll say something about me and this means I'm important, loved, needed - popular!

Oh look! I have my 314th Facebook friend!

But the "I'm a member of the Hot Dog Fan Club" or "I like to say Fuck?"

I'll betcha God or whatever deity you believe it or even the primordial ooze itself it regretting creating life when it reads that one. It was my cousin. I read that. It made me have no interest in reading further.

At the playground I see parent after parent after parent on their chatter chatter boxes, ignoring their kids while the kid falls, screams, yells, cries. Chatter chatter. And then we're shocked the kids are killing each other or raping each other or bullying each other?

I'm shocked we're shocked!

When will we grow up? As one man wrote about Facebook, it allows in America this perpetual adolescence. As this man wrote:

Spending hours on end worrying about what toothpaste someone you knew 20 years ago uses or what color socks someone put on this AM should not be more important than playing with your kids and spending time with a spouse. And the innocent flirting? Sure, that person is across the country and married, making it a safe outlet. However, it still damages marriage and family. Social media sites simply feed into the problem of perpetual adolescence among American adults. If you are over 20, turn off the FB, grow up, and act your age.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

But I say it now, sending this memo out to the void of chatter chatter to dare, to send a dare to you all.

Dare to give meaning to your life right now. Dare to love those who love you. Dare to do what's hard, to listen, to grieve, to give, to extend yourself beyond yourself.

Dare to shut up and just listen for a freaking change!

The challenge. Go one month with no chatter chatter and devote yourself to others. Don't do it for back pats or reward, but for love itself. And don't tell anyone of your plan. If you've no significant others ie spouse or children then donate your time to those in need.

Nothing about you. All about them. Dare to live outside of posting what you had for breakfast, boasting about a raise or your birthday.

Stop slumming for an insta-boost by engaging in behavior you would not do in a room with your spouse or children present.

Instead of working inside our relationships, inside our families, inside our homes, inside ourselves, we seek the instant gratification afforded by the electronic chatter. A happy home, a happy family, happy children, happy parents, happy spouses, happy employment all come from work.

And we don't want work.

We want easy.

Microwavable lives! Done in 30 seconds or less!

We don't want sacrifice. "Fuck that!" you can hear it being said even now.

We want us, us, us to be noticed, US to be celebrated, US to be surrounded, US to be given to, US to be heralded, US to be patted on the back of, me me me me me me me me me.

And so in comes the chatter chatter.

Last challenge.

Name ten horrific things that happened around the planet today to others which highlight that your chatter chatter doesn't mean a freaking thing.

Or better said by my brother's ex-wife.....

....Today's your last day on Earth. What would you really have wanted written on your gravestone? That I wish I would have sent one more worthless, stupid, inane Facebook post?

Hey, look on the bright side of all this. When you do die, and you will (the number of Facebook "friends" nor the number of postings has no effect on your mortality) you will be saving your "friends" lots of effort for all they will have to do when you die is post "Too bad!" or "See ya!" on their Facebook.

Ain't it a beautiful thing! Chatter chatter!

Out.