Aquaintanceship

By Rhiannonw

Wed, 27 Nov 2019
  • 1620 reads
6 comments
 

Social media “conversations”,
discussions, even altercations,
with profiles shared – how true?
Are they as you think – are you
as they imagine?
‘We meet at last!’ –
surprised, disturbed,
pleased, aghast?
preconceptions curbed,
adjusting to a person newly met,
partly known and understood – but yet

acquaintanceship take place
when face to face.

[IP: We meet at last!]

Certificate U
Poem
Miscellaneous
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Di_Hard on

It is interesting how words are not enough and we have to have emojis to make up for not being able to "see" what someone meant.

But also shyness can get in the way of socialising, and "talking" online is much less intimidating. Your poem reminded me of meeting my partner for the first time, in real life, after we had exchanged lots of wrting :0)

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

But body language and eye contact convey much more than emojis don't they! But yes, 'talking' online or by old fashioned letters can help to share thoughts, background, feelings, experiences that fill out our understanding of another. French and Welsh have two words for 'knowing' and 'connaitre' and its Welsh equivalent are for knowing a person, more like aquaintanceship I suppose where you have become more aware of how another feels etc. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Rhiannon,

you know I'm always taken aback when meeting someone from the past that I've not seen for maybe thirty or forty years. It's like all those memories of how you remembered them are suddenly wiped out.

I remember meeting a friend I was at school with and how we'd got on so well, yet when we met up, there wasn't a single thing we had in common, because we'd both changed so much. Very sad but part of life I suppose.

Your poem makes for a great conversation point and all those thoughts that go through your head  when meeting someone that maybe you've built an image of in your mind, yet they maybe look totally different from the way you imagined.

Jenny.

 

 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Yes, much happens in thirty or forty years. I suppose if you've had a close relationship it ought to be easy to open up communication again, but childhood friendships aren't necessarily very close.

Even speaking on the phone it's easy to build up a picture of what the speaker looks like from the voice isn't it and then, as you say, the shock of meeting and realising you had invented a picture …!

But sharing thoughts online is often on a limited area. And youngsters, especially, have been badly taken in by assumptions about the integrity of the anonymous person they are speaking to. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

I feel very sorry for today's young people they never learn the courage of face-to-face. The thrill of holding a girl's hand. A first kiss. Just straight into the deep end. You will never have the courage to tell someone you love her. Even that already takes guts, and the internet is just so easy you will never feel rejected.

This is a very very serious thing Rhiannon but we still have the churches, and ordinary schools and other institutions like dance school I was just hopeless but it was great fun, and things like chess clubs boy scouts maybe book clubs libraries sport etc. Down with the Internet!!

Keep well Rhiannon and good night!

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you for your comments, Tom. The internet does seem to encourage a multiplicity of friendships, but remaining often rather shallow, and missing out on the gradual getting to know people in a group situation, face to face and seeing each other interacting with other people as in church youth groups and clubs, as you say. And the gradual courtship.

Rhiannon