I have been reading random blogs in the last few days and have been struck by what I have found. Loosely quoting from the same movie as inspired the last entry (Meet Joe Black) a woman dying tells Death (who has pronounced himself lonely) that we are all, down here, lonely--and the best we can hope for is to get a few nice pictures (memories) to take with us.

What I have heard from these blogs is an inate sense of loneliness and a longing for connection. The draw of a blog for some people, I believe, is simply to be heard. A board I frequent had a task posed...write 10 random facts or insights about yourself. It was a great exercise and I learned many interesting things about people. Even more fascinating though was who was responding. People who rarely post along with the more active members. If a person frequents a large board and rarely participates--what is it about that exercise that would draw them out? They are, many of them, shy people--so why respond to something so personal? We all like to talk about ourselves, my friend said--very true, and even further--we all long to be heard. We want someone to say, "I hear you, and on some level I connect to what you are saying or feeling."

This is made even more intriguing in a world with so much connectivity--global news, telephones, fax machines, email, boards, instant messaging--and yet we are still all inherently lonely people looking for a few good pictures to take with us when we go.