Warning! Reading this with your own brain may cause damage!

My sarcastic side finds delightful irony in the fact that I am writing a blog about the failure in communication today. Once upon a time, a letter written to a friend was revered as a keepsake to be cherished, even passed on to generations. In July, I sent off letters to various acquaintances. As of this moment, I have had no response. Maybe they’re still crossing over on the Mayflower.

Busy times, we live in. Yes, they are. I seem to hear more about my friends going-on’s through Facebook or Twitter than from their own lips. One friend recently asked, “Where have you been?” after I had taken a hiatus from social networking. Hmmm. Where have I been? I have been at the same address, phone number and email that I have been for years. I must have missed that voice mail or text message where you reached out to me.

The common excuse I get is speaking of how busy they have been. Really? We have a massive ad campaign going on about the consequences of texting while driving. What exactly were you “so busy” doing? You were texting somebody before the car crash!

I can’t hear anyone, anymore because the noise is deafening! I don’t call or text when I drive because I love to drive. It is my therapy. I usually get my best writing ideas while cruising down the highway. And my BMW 528i is a great therapist in which to deal with whatever I may be suffering.

By the way, there is no blog or therapy group that replaces the loneliness of suffering.  If friends, good wishes or even prayers were all that are needed to relieve suffering, safe to say someone would have marketed it for their own good at this point. Yes, I am sorry to say that my cynical side tends to seek out our arterial motives, especially in the guise of helping others. After all, the nuclear bomb was started with the best of intentions.

Suffering is the necessary bleeding our bodies do to keep the poisons from seeping into our veins. And no one can do blood-letting for you. But again, we appear too busy to reach out and speak directly to a friend about that which bothers us.

Of-uttered phrases like “I’ll keep you in my prayers” sometimes carry the same weight of “the check is in the mail.” We say such things so as not appear odious. It also seems to be a way we offer an “instant” prayer, the same way we shoot off a text message.

Social networking is now our microwavable portion of friendship. I see a wide variety of “instant” quotes that people post on their walls. Apparently, they only have enough time to borrow someone else’s words instead of creating their own. I can certainly attest that spellcheck has caused my writing skills to deteriorate. Why should I remember how to spell when the computer will do it for me? Of course, we all have seen humorous results of failure to look at the content of what we write. I pray better care goes into a love letter.

Real conversation has disappeared. I am now convinced that I can copy and paste and entire conversation from someone else’s quote page! Hmmm, I might just do that for my next blog! Why be original when I can ride on someone’s coattails?

But now we are so busy that I cannot express my own emotions? Like I need another voice inside my head? As Edmund Burke stated: “All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” Well, we’re off to a great start. Someone pass me the remote control…..