I whip out my cell phone and say “Uh-huh” under my breath as I check my email.
“Well, what do you think?” my friend asks.
“About what?” I answer while I text “Happy Birthday” to a co-worker after a Facebook reminder pops up on my cell’s screen.
“About what I should do?” they answer.
“…about what you should do…about what?” I respond, finally looking up.
My friend shrugs apathetically, “Never mind.”
“I’m Sorry. Okay, start from the beginning. I’ll listen this time, I promise.”
Just then my phone chirps and vibrates for attention from my lap. I wince when I realize it’s trying to remind me that my meeting starts in fifteen minutes.
“Hey. I just remembered that I have a meeting right now. Do you mind if we talk about this later?”
“Uh-huh,” my friend responds with a blank stare now directed at the laptop on the table between us.
“Maybe we could get something to eat—” I remember I already made plans to meet the guys for dinner, “…or something?”
“Yeah, sure,” my friend says halfheartedly as the tapping noise of keyboard keys punctuates the silence.
“Alright, text me then. See you later.”
“Later. Have a good meeting.”
“Thanks, you too—I mean…you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I get you. See ya.”
Let’s just say, things are a little different now.
“Hey, Kyle!” comes a loud, gruff, yet feminine voice from a house on my way home.
“Hola, Lucha.” I yell back through her open front door.
“How are you? Where are you coming from?” says the little old Peruvian woman as she gets up from her dining room table and makes her way to the door.
“I’m good. I’m cooking today!” I hold up a bag of groceries.
She laughs.
“I’m going to try to cook today.” I correct myself.
She laughs again, “Come in, come in! Have a little something to eat first. I made some soup you should try.”
“Aw, Lucha, I don’t have time.”
“I don’t have time!” She mocks me before grabbing my grocery bag. She may be tiny, but she has a strong grip and before I know it I’m sitting at her table with a steaming bowl of…something, in front of me.
“Eat, eat. So, tell me what you’re making.”
“Well, I’m going to try to make yucca today.”
“Mmm…yucca is delicious. How are you going to prepare it?”
“—and that’s the problem.”
“Well, you pretty much just cook it like potatoes.”
“Easy.” I reply, but after a few spoonfuls of her soup I ask, “So, then, I cook it in water?”
She sighs politely and shakes her head.
Twenty minutes later I’m on my way home again, but with a bag of freshly peeled and cut yucca and a game-plan.
“Bye Kyle, good luck! It’s going to be delicious.”
“Thanks a lot Lucha.”
“No problem!”
“—and Kyle.”
“Yeah?” I say as I stop and turn to hear what she’s going to say.
“Take care of yourself.”
“Thanks, Lucha. I will.”
I didn’t know how warm and real communicating with other people could feel until I came here, even casual, everyday relationships. Now it seems like I have many more opportunities to really connect with people. Sometimes, even without words.
The other day as I was helping weigh children in Cambio Puente, a little boy became terrified of the scale for some reason. He kicked and struggled to avoid being put in the carrier that we hang from the balance. He cried out, and suddenly grabbed his mother tightly around her neck. She gently turned so that he could see me, and whispered something to him. I nodded my head in agreement with whatever she was saying. He slowly released his vice-grip and allowed me to put him in the carrier. I looked at his mom and smiled in thanks. She smiled back and smoothed her son’s ruffled hair.
Moments like these force me to see how important and rewarding interacting with the people around us can be. It makes me wish I’d always taken the extra time to look a person in the eyes and say, “Hey…you take care of yourself, alright?” and really mean it.
Kyle Seymour, Incarnate Word Missionary
I couldn't have said it better myself. I love this story and all the contents in it. The first summer after high school I finally join the rest of the population and opened up a Facebook account. I was keeping up with friends and family and was a frequent user. It was great a fast and easy way to communicate with others. I noticed the amount of time I spent on it and that of my friends and family as well; it appeared even when I wasn’t on Facebook I was receiving and responding to notifications via email or through text. The very next summer rolled around quickly and a huge birthday celebration spread like wildfire as people informed others through Facebook’s invite. I of course was going to attend this birthday celebration for an old friend along with most of my graduating class. Everything kicked off nice and it was fun, for a while people were talking and having a good time. However it appeared no one really had anything new to say. All exciting things that happened or stories were already posted on Facebook. Everyone had already known what they needed to about everyone. I found this rather sad. I deleted my Facebook a couple days later. I found the conversations with those individuals so impersonal; I explained to those that asked that I want to go to my 10year high school reunion and be thrilled to see my old friends and catch up with them. I want people to text me on my birthday because they know it by heart not because they are reminded, I want to get to know people, not put bits and pieces together to paint my own picture. I want to really communicate with others personally; I want to live my life, not watch others live theirs.
ReplyDelete