Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Can you hear me?

Every now and then, I get to participate in some good old fashion social intercourse. You know the kind, where all you can do is scream. It is almost painful, but you don't want it to stop. But if it goes on much longer you just know you're going to pay for it later...and aspirin is not going to help with the pain...
Tonight I engaged in just such a conversation. I immediately screamed at the computer when the person sent what I knew was a redundant question. One I had answered most clearly almost a year ago. In very great detail I might add. Surely I left NO doubt as to what it was we had shared--even though we had never met, nor had we experienced the event together at the same time and space.
Over the couse of the year, I followed their discussion on the internet. All the while wondering if this person was actually capable of empathy. I knew we had shared the same city growing up, different high schools, but I was confident we knew the same people--at least I knew the people they knew--it was doubtful they knew the people I knew on the other side of town. We probably even attended the same middle school ( they were junior high schools in the 1970s).
I tried to guess who this person was. They did not sound like anyone who would come from the same environment and end up as a scientist in the engineering field. Then leave that for education? They also would be at the same school I had taught at 8 years prior to their arrival.
Tonight they were on line at one of the forums I snark on. They PM me about a reference I made to a place near DTW. They ask if it is XXX crappy school. I say yes and name a few idiots that work there. They write back and say, OMG, when did you work there?
Silently screaming and pounding the keyboard, I ask them if they remember ANYTHING that is more than 24 hours old. I wonder if they remember their phone number, the names of their kids, their dog, or if they even know they have a dog and that they need to feed the dog.
When the guy asks if you can hear me now, it isn't a matter of having a good connection, it is a matter of comprehension and focus...Can that be any clearer?

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