An Ode

I consider myself to be very blessed. This could be any number of things, but today I’m talking specifically about people in my life. I’ve been blessed to have some great people enter into my life.

One of those people is a certain Nanci McCaleb Bushner. Nanci was actually the driving force behind me writing this blog.

Nanci’s truly a great friend and a wonderful person. She has got an absolutely fantastic brain. She challenges my mind and doesn’t settle for my bullshit—and trust me, there can be a lot of bullshit with me.

We make an odd matching. I suppose most strangers who see us think of us as mother and child, but that’s not really what it is. It’s far more informal. One of my biggest complaints with people by and large, is when they treat me like I’m my age. It’s rude and very condescending, and it’s an issue I’ve been dealing with my entire life. Trust me Mr./Mrs. Adult, I can keep up in a conversation with you, I’m not the cliche-d view of the teenager (basically, a zombie). I’ve been able to keep up in conversations for a long time now, but no adults seem to think that I can. They think that I’m either too stupid, too unaware, too uninterested, or they think that I simply won’t have anything to contribute to the discussion. I have a tremendous amount of respect and gratitude for adults that treat me like an equal. Nanci has always, always, always treated me like I’m an equal, and for that, I’ll always be appreciative.

We’ve covered virtually every topic known to man. From the Doors and the Beatles to God and our beliefs. We agree on most everything, and on the rare occasion we disagree, one of us will either change the other’s opinion, or understand it enough to value it.

She has got three beautiful sons, all of whom I know in some way or another, and all of them unique (and as my mom said, “very handsome”) in their own way.

I suppose the best way to sum up Nanci is this: Nanci has not necessarily had the easiest life, but she certainly has made the best of it.

To This End

I have heard two people express concerns, deep concerns, over the state of communication today. I just read a blog devoted to the subject of that person’s concern, so it finally pushed me to write this. I’ve been meaning to write my opinions on this for a while, and that was sort of a catalyst for it.

I want to open this blog with a mission statement: communication today is no better or worse then it’s ever been. Our methods of communication have changed to a degree, but I’d argue that there’s a lot more face to face conversation and a lot more phone conversation then ever before.

First, however, let’s look at the negatives of the new types of communication (or, at least, the perceived negatives): face to face conversation has been relegated to 160 characters via text or a message on Facebook. Text messaging has deadened our emotions and has lowered our ability to properly communicate.

I think I can offer something of a unique perspective on this because I’m a teenager who’s right in the thick of electronic communication, but I’m smart and aware enough to realize the positives and negatives of it.

I recently got my cell phone taken away by the school, and it is absolutely crippling not having it with me. A significant portion of my social life is gone. That being said, texting is not replacing talking, merely adding to it. If anything, in my opinion, we’re almost too social. There are some people I talk to on Facebook or over texting exclusively. These are people that I would never dream of calling, nor would I ever talk to them outside of electronic communication. If e-comm (I’m getting tired of typing that crap over and over) didn’t exist, I wouldn’t talk to these people outside school, period.

What did people do before texting and before email and before internet and such? Call other people I would assume. And spend time with them, physically, face to face. We still do that. While that may not be our main method of communication, the amount of time devoted to that has not necessarily diminished. I still love talking to people face to face, and I know that my fellow teenagers feel the same way. You might see us text during the conversation, but that rarely distracts significantly from it.

So don’t worry N (you know who you are, N) and like minded people. We’re doing fine. As long as you don’t let it replace anything, there’s no harm in e-comm. And, really don’t worry about us teenagers. We’re not letting it replace anything.

Believe it or not, but teenagers are fairly smart and aware. We may not act it, and some of us don’t know it, but we would never let texting replace face to face.

:) will never replace