<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Ralph:<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I must say that I don't write very often on this listserve - yet am a constant silent reader of all the wonderful writings of others. Every once in a while, however, something is said that makes me really sit up and pay attention. Your e-mail this morning was one! I agree totally with your observations. In my model of the world, people are literally dying for want of real, authentic contact - with those who are willing to engage. The rash of 'networking' over the past few years seems to have been driven almost totally by the need for 'business' contacts, without authentic regard or curiosity for or about the people with whom one is 'networking'. The tweeting business really takes things down to a lowest common denominator level, and while as you say may be useful for some, it sort of represents, for me, a further deterioration of the depth of human contact for which I believe most people are craving.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>In my world, I continue to keep moving forward, opening more and more space for face to face authentic contact within which I can 'share the truth of my experience', and be continually curious about that which is outside of me - instead of continually judging what I believe others are saying or what they might mean.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Thanks so much for this posting! </DIV><DIV>By the way, what else haven't you said or asked, that if said/asked, has the potential to make a huge difference in my life and the lives of many others? </DIV><DIV>Just curious!</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Sincerely</DIV><DIV>Cathy Carmody</DIV><DIV>Nova Scotia, Canada<BR><DIV><DIV>On 30-Mar-09, at 10:02 AM, Ralph Copleman wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">I signed up for a Twitter account, but apparently I have no need to tweet, so I'm not sure why I did it. The very sound of the word, in English anyway, is enough of a clue to me about the quality of the connection, though I suppose there will always be a place in our lives for the small comings and goings. <DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Facebook. Signed up there, too. I check it about every second or third day. I keep waiting for something to happen, something worth sinking teeth into. Even if I say something I hope might result in richer dialogue, little of lasting import transpires. But I must say I like it. It's easy, and some folks I love whom I don't see regularly do post messages there. Have heard from two old college chums, too, but I cannot say we are "re-connected" in any richer sense. Linkedin. Plaxo. Forget them. All I ever get are invitations to "connect" to people. Nothing else. No dialogue at all. None. I suppose I could derive benefit from them if I "worked" them, but I don't feel the need.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Live and let live is my motto, and in my case, intimacy is what I crave, not more ways to skip along your surface. Want me to "follow" you? Write me something about what's really going on with you, and ask questions. Send it to me. I'll answer. Want to follow me? Well, ask me what you want to know. And I'll ask you questions, too. I'm not sure I want to bother the world with what I have for breakfast each day. I understand some fame-soaked celebrities have people who ghost-write their tweets. </DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Face-to-face. Telephone conversation. Letters and e-mail. Listserves. Everything else. In that order. The farther I go down the list, the less I experience any space being held by anyone, for anyone. And here's a quote that came to mind for me. Seems connected to this, sort of.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV> <DIV class="MsoNormal"><SPAN style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">"…the more sensitive and profound are your answers, the more effective the results."</SPAN></DIV> <DIV class="MsoNormal"><SPAN style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black"><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>–– Peter Koestenbaum<O:P></O:P></SPAN></DIV><DIV class="MsoNormal"><BR></DIV><DIV class="MsoNormal">I'm off to deal with the growing backlash against the need to do a little something about global warming. Who ARE these people!?</DIV><DIV class="MsoNormal"><BR></DIV><DIV class="MsoNormal">Ralph Copleman</DIV> </DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV><BR></DIV>* * ========================================================== OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu: <A href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html">http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</A> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: <A href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist">http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist</A></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>*
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