The broader and more sophisticated grows the world wide web,
the closer are we able to connect to total strangers, creating community in all
corners and companionship even as we sit alone.
The ripples of nearly every conversation can wander near and far.
Countless
acquaintances with neighbors have been deepened online and some connections
with people on the other side of the world who I may never meet face to face
have struck deep roots close to the very home of my heart. In the typed word and instant access, there
is an intimacy that allows us to pass quickly beyond the normal boundaries of
body language and social preconceptions.
As a
corollary to all of this networking, the way we take products to market has
also radically changed. For nearly every
item and service, websites have become the most important storefront and
suddenly the good idea of a sole-proprietor home-based start-up can become an
international phenomenon.
The internet
quickly made travel agents as rare as an outhouse. The big name record labels in the music
business floundered and flopped practically over-night. Borders book store is solid evidence that
brick and mortar are turning to dust while even publishing giants in glass and
steel skyscrapers are unable to do as much for an author as a good book going
viral by word of mouth and tweets.
The date of
this Friday creates the wonderful numerical pattern of 11/11/11 and there are
those who see this as an energetic confluence that opens an especially powerful
portal to a new way of relating in this world.
A precursor to the transformation predicted for the end of the world as
we know it in December 2012, the idea is that souls are shifting in preparation
to be leaders as the big day approaches a year from now. Survival of the fittest, some say, will be focused
on those who share and distribute rather than on those who horde and accumulate
behind high walls of protection.
Vulnerability
attracts support instead of attack.
Honesty establishes clarity. Truth
invites forgiveness. Living from the
heart, we release love.
Fear
shrivels and dies behind those high walls where the supposed wealth has no
currency and the food runs out.
Most likely,
the Apocalypse will be far less dramatic: perhaps a collapse of the financial
houses of cards and mirrors or the Occupy Movement sweeping the world grows as
powerful as the internet and actually creates the change being demanded. We already feel the tough times. Uncertainty plagues our enjoyment of Sunday
afternoons, thinking about challenges in the week ahead.
And as our
various and individual existential struggles about marriages, happiness and the
best schools for our children's future take their toll, tsunamis, hurricanes
and earthquakes instantly provide perspective.
In all of the natural disasters, beyond the initial shock, I am struck
most by the consistent stories about neighbor helping neighbors and strangers
on the other side of the world rallying to send food, clothing, and other essentials,
a currency of emotional support, obliterating borders that seemed otherwise impenetrable.
In that
spirit, I have come to recognize that it is not only our right as writers to
organize well chosen words in pretty patterns of bytes to stand out amongst gazillions,
but that we actually do better for ourselves by reaching out to pull each other
along. Competition has been silenced by
cooperation.
With the
ability to self-publish just coming into the living room of every person with a
computer and the urge to write a novel combining with the availability of
Kindles, smart phones and Ebook readers for people to enjoy them, the
incredible onslaught of information at our fingertips will only grow to a never-ending
tsunami of its own, overwhelming every mind searching for worthwhile fodder
upon which to munch.
With so much
information available in clicks from one to another, it is better to give the
bulk away to attract the most loyal to the most delectable morsels. Blogs and ebooks, music, videos and all the
news that's fit to print can occupy our waking moments and some courses are
recommended to be subliminally absorbed in our sleep. The supply is so great,
unless the quality is immediately evident, obscurity is just a fast click away
and payment will only be given to those most outstanding works.
To sharpen
the focus, writers are sharing their talents and platforms with each other,
countless stepping stones in the sea that link us all together, like-minded and
disparate, drawing together in support.
This week, I will join the ranks of the many by presenting some of the
best that I have discovered, transforming my humble site, I hope, from one of
self-proclamation to one that you will find more interesting and informative.
I look
forward to your feedback and suggestions in these exciting times ahead.
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