Connect

As a child, did you ever look up into the sky on a clear summer night?  When the sun has burned off any haze and set, leaving the night with a perfect picture of a thousand stars.  It’s almost like you could reach out and touch them.  Sitting alone under such a canopy of twinkling brilliance, it’s easy to feel totally alone and so small in comparison.  Alone, on the same night a thousand miles away, another curious child looks up pondering the same thoughts as the first constellation comes clearly into view.  

Are we ever truly alone?  Not getting spiritual or philosophical, but are we?

I’ve dreamt under those stars.  I still do at times.  And when I’m out there, my world drifts away into a cosmos that reminds me of my stature, of being just one single organism in a universe that might be teeming with others.  Sentient, carnal, sludge.  Who knows?  But what I have realized, just like that child across the world from me, is that there are others out there.  We just have to find ways to connect like connecting the dots of stars in a constellation.

It is in our isolation that we find solace at times, but often we can find that place where being alone becomes a sense of overwhelming loneliness.  It is easy to feel connected with the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others, but are we really so connected when trolling yet another site or app?  Where did human contact, a hug, a close whisper, a smile not shared over a screen get lost?  Our help often comes first from a google search, then checking with our “Friends” online and then posting our victories and trials out there for others to see.  I’m not in any way trying to bash the world that we have now with social media.  I use it myself to stay abreast of happenings, births, life events that may be across the country or just not part of the hectic schedule I sometimes have.  But is it true connection?

What would it be like to go back to small communities with a central gathering place?  Real hands to pat you on the back or open ears to sit by a fire and listen intently and offer up words of encouragement or just to say, “I hear you”.  I still struggle with being real.  I want my work, my friendships, my family to be real to me.  And I am the FIRST to admit that close proximity to large amounts of people can truly give me anxiety and unneeded stress.  But I also need time with those I care about.  In the work that I do, both teaching and my new venture I need to see your face.  To absorb some of your energy.  To breathe you in and allow you to do the same of me.  We were built for communion with others.   

And on those nights when I’m alone under the stars, I remember that song from the animated movie “An American Tail”, Somewhere Out There.

“And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishin' on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky”

Do you feel alone?  Amidst the hustle and bustle of your life, do you feel more alone than connected?  See, the stars are there every night, whether we can see them or not.  They shine just as bright whether covered by clouds or lost in the thunder and rain.  And when you stand alone under one of those perfect nights, realize that somewhere, no matter how far apart, there is someone thinking about you and hoping that you are thinking about them.

Find connection in others who seek the same things in life.  In hopeful people who dive in and want to experience more than just a world on a screen.  Find peace in knowing that we never have to be alone.