Could you imagine a world without borders, no distance between us? Could you imagine a means of reaching out, communicating, that did not involve an electronic device? There was a time when I would sit across a coffee table and discuss meaningful thoughts, a time when people sought each other for true companionship. Do you remember a time when a handshake was tangible, a pat on the back was meaningful, or an embrace was comforting? There was even a time when a fervent high-five carried significant weight and a bonding of camaraderie. Bygone times, I think.

Now, in the world of nod, there is distance. There is a separation of selves. Tucked away in our world of remote viewing and weightless words is only a memory of what it was to be together. Even the gathering places of old have converted to drive-through windows. Self-checkout and touchless exchanges are becoming our norm. I believe that the six feet of required distance are but a fraction of the distance between us that is truly being created. Whether it be six feet or a mile it no longer matters should the connection become severed.

I have long said that a text message or email lost its tone and was subject to the reader’s interpretation that was most likely skewed by how they thought the sender’s emotional context was to be. The intonation was understood by how it was read and not so much by how it was written or intended. Now, we get to tell our tales by way of social media platforms or while hidden behind a mask. We are even at the cusp of not being able to read facial expressions while we listen. Are we removing all social cues and quirks from our dialog? With anonymity, there decays our true reflection.

Here I can hide away into the depths of my rabbit hole and spit rhetoric without reprisal. I can type away endlessly hidden and leave you at the mercy of personal interpretation of my meaning. And that is how I like it, that is my intent. I wish to start a spark of thought that is individually yours. But mine is a different venue of discourse. Mine is meant to suffer the shred of hint and innuendo. Yet I only hide behind the metaphorical mask of reasoning and the distance of theory and belief. What if you could lean in to hear my whisper? Nod from a distance if you understand.