I’m realizing first hand the power of a virtual community by following a cousin’s blog who, with his wife, is adopting a child from Kiev, Ukraine. They are making daily posts with their progress along with pictures, even their young son gets to put his photographs on the web. This new virtual community hits even closer to home with my daughter, who must have a hundred “friends” on Facebook. She can keep in touch with these friends electronically 24/7.
So, what if anything is the role of our traditional community… that promotes service clubs, has parades, worship’s together, visits shut ins, plays sports, attends cultural events and yes, mentors kids too?
Somehow I don’t think that our electronic community, cool as it is, can ever replace a face to face community. A child will never learn to play the game of baseball simply by mastering a virtual game of “Backyard Baseball” in the apartment. He or she will need someone to play catch and retrieve hits. How can electronics ever replace the caring and warmth of real human interaction?
Virtural communities can provide a wonderful augmentation to communication with friends and family, but can never replace the quality of relationship only possible through face to face interaction.
Virtually yours,
Dan
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