Post by katieblock on Aug 9, 2011 14:06:55 GMT -5
Solitude has made a big impact on our world, especially religion. I agree with the religious aspects of this article because a person can’t talk to God with others chatting around them or goofing off. I pray every night before I sleep and at home I can shoot out my prayer pretty quickly, but when I stay at a friend’s house and tons of girls are gossiping in the dark, I get lost and I don’t remember what I’ve said to God and what I haven’t. To me, this directly shows solitude is vital for religion. If Siddhartha Gautama had not sat under a tree alone for quite some time, then where would the Buddhists be today? They wouldn’t have a Buddha, that’s for sure!
The part in the article about text messaging and internet stirred some opinions in me. When I text, I still feel alone. I don’t feel as if I’m talking to someone right beside me, I have the freedom to do whatever I want to and still talk to my friends. Even so, there are still times when I want to put my phone away and not talk to anymore, but to me that’s a different type of being alone. Mr. Deresiewicz is right about internet connecting isolated people. The internet has allowed my family to connect with members in Germany and Australia and was allowing for us to plan a vacation where we all could meet without the phone bills rising with calls.
“What does friendship mean when you have 532 ‘friends’” It means that not all of those people are your closet friends. I connect with my best friends in person or through phone. I don’t message them on Facebook or chat with them through Facebook chat. The people I care about the most have my number, know how to call me, and know more about me than what my Facebook gives off. I have a rule: Everyone who I add on my Facebook, I must have met in real life. Unless of course it’s family from far off lands and I’m certain FOR SURE I am related to them. I don’t just add people because they have cool hair or the same birthday as me; there’s no reason to.
There is a polite way and a rude way to want solitude or to act upon solitude. A hermit is “Any person who is living in seclusion; a recluse,” by my phone dictionary. When I think of a hermit I think of an old man living in a little cottage outside of town who is mean to little girls selling cookies. That is the rude way to want solitude. The polite way to want solitude is to still be kind and friendly. You can still have solitude and go out to lunch once or twice a week and at night be alone. The last paragraph of this article addresses the issue that complete solitude isn’t polite and in all truth it definitely isn’t polite.
The part in the article about text messaging and internet stirred some opinions in me. When I text, I still feel alone. I don’t feel as if I’m talking to someone right beside me, I have the freedom to do whatever I want to and still talk to my friends. Even so, there are still times when I want to put my phone away and not talk to anymore, but to me that’s a different type of being alone. Mr. Deresiewicz is right about internet connecting isolated people. The internet has allowed my family to connect with members in Germany and Australia and was allowing for us to plan a vacation where we all could meet without the phone bills rising with calls.
“What does friendship mean when you have 532 ‘friends’” It means that not all of those people are your closet friends. I connect with my best friends in person or through phone. I don’t message them on Facebook or chat with them through Facebook chat. The people I care about the most have my number, know how to call me, and know more about me than what my Facebook gives off. I have a rule: Everyone who I add on my Facebook, I must have met in real life. Unless of course it’s family from far off lands and I’m certain FOR SURE I am related to them. I don’t just add people because they have cool hair or the same birthday as me; there’s no reason to.
There is a polite way and a rude way to want solitude or to act upon solitude. A hermit is “Any person who is living in seclusion; a recluse,” by my phone dictionary. When I think of a hermit I think of an old man living in a little cottage outside of town who is mean to little girls selling cookies. That is the rude way to want solitude. The polite way to want solitude is to still be kind and friendly. You can still have solitude and go out to lunch once or twice a week and at night be alone. The last paragraph of this article addresses the issue that complete solitude isn’t polite and in all truth it definitely isn’t polite.