Small Miracles

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This blog idea was inspired by a post by Jeff

When I first obtained an Internet connection one techno-phobic friend was horrified to hear that I went onto website forums and talked... to strangers! She said, "Do you know how many weirdoes there are out there on the Internet?"

At the time I burst out laughing and replied, "Do you know how many weirdoes there are in my neighbourhood?"

In a two block radius of our old house we knew of a convicted paedophile, a wife-beater and three people the police were watching for various reasons.. and I lived on the "good" side of town!

Not that I was stupid on the Internet. I picked my websites carefully and read both what people said as well as what lay unspoken between the lines. Even being careful I've had the odd weird encounter, and met a few "nasties", but all in all it's been a fantastic experience being online.

The thing I never expected when I entered the global world of the Internet was the friendships I would make. I'm a loner at heart. You'd probably never believe that to meet me. People in the "real" world bill me as an extrovert, but basically I prefer my own company to group activities. Big crowds stress me and I hate supermakets and shopping malls. I have also never been the type of female to blab her personal life to her girl friends. I've never been the type to have close friends of either gender really, but since I went online that has changed dramatically. I now have loads of friends, in every corner of this planet. Not only that, these are FRIENDS - not just people I share a few fun times with, these are people who I have shared my soul with.

My Internet friends have carried me through hard times in ways I can only describe as miraculous. We have come together to laugh, to share, to pray, to rage and to weep. We have helped members through broken relationships, family deaths, illness, bankruptcy, retrenchment and jobs/bosses from Hell. Two years ago when I had a miscarriage my doctor was surprised when my psych evaluation test results came back showing no signs of depression. I told her it was because I had good friends to lean on. It was true. My husband and I didn't go through those months alone. We were held in the love of our online "family". Those strong internet-friends arms.. what miracles they have brought me!

When I started blogging last month I saw it as a way to soothe my addictive need to write rather than a way to make friends. I have about thirty internet people I already call friends. I wasn't looking for more, but already in the short time I have been blogging I have met several people I would be thrilled and honoured to eventually add to my "friends" list. I've also wandered around blogs watching and reading how people here reach out - to help, share a laugh, give advice, sympathise and/or comfort one another.

Small miracles, taking place virtually unnoticed, every day.

I must confess to being surprised.. and impressed. Yes, there are the spiteful and nasty bloggers. There will always be people worth avoiding, just like those highly unpleasant neighbours in my old home town. It's all about choosing your friendships wisely, wherever that might be.

Another online friend and I once chewed over this topic and came to the conclusion that the reason internet friendships can be so intense is that here we meet through our words alone. No other stimuli get in the way to bias our first impressions. We meet in thoughts and emotions without age, race, gender, culture, or social position in the way. We meet as souls, or spirit, and that is a very intense and personal meeting that rarely happens in the "real world".

Of course you get those on the internet who try to hide behind masks, but I've found very few who can keep their true persona out of their words and thoughts, even if they may make up fake names and identities. Who you truly are shines through.

In fact, I even found my true love through the internet. We met not because we were looking for a relationship. We met because we both held out a hand to offer help to the other, and from those two smaller miracles a far bigger one came to be..

..but that's another story. : -)