F is for Facebook [and Aristotle] (A-Z Challenge)

"A friend to all is a friend to none"

(Aristotle)

 

Isn't social media an amazing phenomenon? I must admit that I am not a big Facebook user and only started using it as a way of maintaining easy communication with my kids when they started to move away to university. I'm not a big fan of 'technology for technology's sake'; there has to be a purpose or a good use to put it to.

 

But it seems to me that Facebook is seen by many, particularly the young, as the keystone of their identity: without it they do not exist or they will be excluded, overlooked and on the fringes of all that's good and exciting in the world. Kids are not officially going out with their boyfriend or girlfriend until Facebook states that they are 'in a relationship'; it actually needs to be written down in their profile! Facebook has become so ingrained in society that some young people (not all, of course) measure their self-worth by the number of 'friends' they accumulate and the image they portray in their online space. I wonder how many people have been made to feel somehow inadequate if they do not have hundreds of 'friends' on Facebook?

 

I know for certain that the quantity of 'friends' on Facebook says nothing about a person's ability to make friends, be sociable or have high self-worth. Isn't social media giving our young people the impression that they have a large circle of friends, while in reality they hardly ever see those people in person or even speak to them on the phone? Are they really friends or was Aristotle right when he said "a friend to all is a friend to none?"

 

What do you think?

E is for Earth (A-Z Challenge)

I was reading some interesting facts about planet Earth recently. Believe me, there are more interesting facts than you can shake a stick at! That said, I thought I would include just two of them here.

Making More Time
Have you ever wished that there were more hours in the day? The good news is that, some time in the future there will be! The bad news is that you'll have to wait a few million years for it to happen. The fact is that the earth's rotation is slowing down. It is believed that millions of years in the future a day could be as much as 27 hours long. Imagine all the extra ironing you could get done!

Going Places
Without even knowing it we are truely going places we could only ever dream about. In fact, every year the earth travels a distance of approx 580 million miles around the sun, taking us with it. And it travels at a speed of 67,000 miles per hour. If you really think about this for a minute it can blow your mind. Most of us don't go very far in our daily lives. We might drive to the office and back or, at most, go on holiday abroad each year and think we have really travelled. But without even noticing, we are really travelling huge distances. By my calculations, every day we are travelling approx 1.5 million miles. Phew! I'm feeling tired - time for a coffee!

D is for Diary (A-Z Challenge)

"Memory...is the diary we all carry about with us."

(Oscar Wilde)

Almost 23 years ago I began writing a daily diary or journal, prompted by the birth of my first child. The enormity of my new responsibility as a father felt overwhelming and I wanted somewhere to put down my thoughts and feelings. 23 years later I'm still doing it, maybe not with the same intensity as at the beginning, but doing it nonetheless. I wonder how many of you do the same. If you are into writing and reading blogs there's a good chance you are also the sort of person who would keep a diary. Maybe you would say your blog fulfils this purpose.

There are many benefits to keeping a daily diary/journal. It obviously gives you a written history to look back on when you are old and grey; I find that an attractive proposition. Memories, especially the good ones can remain with us for the rest of our lives - how much better to have a written record to prompt that memory. Maybe, as me, you intend to pass them on to your children (I wonder if this is even a good idea) so that they will also remember all the good times with fondness. Of course, some of us may have had bad times in the past and a place to write about them can really help put them into perspective. A diary is a place to go; a chance to be alone with your thoughts; a friend that will never judge you.

I would love to know how many people out there keep diaries/journals. If you feel inclined, let me know.

C is for Change (A-Z Challenge)

"If you always do what you've always done,

you're always gonna get what you've always got!"

(Anon)

I have this quotation scribbled on a piece of paper, pinned to my study notice board. It reminds me that change is not something that comes easily. If there is something in our life that we want to be different we might tend to agonize over it, wish for something different, think long and hard about what it might be like once change has happened and sometimes dream of a better future. But in doing this we also tend to carry on the same way that we always have; visit the same places, see the same people, listen to the same radio station, react in the same way to events in our lives.

Imagine you are walking down the street and a neighbour is coming in the opposite direction. You get that embarrassed 'what am I going to say' feeling and maybe, as usual, you say a quick hello and walk on. Your neighbour does the same. You agonize over not talking more to your neighbour and you think of how it could be different next time. But next time you do exactly the same thing - nothing changes. Then maybe one day, instead of walking on you look your neighbour in the eye, stop and say 'hello, how are you?' Ten minutes later you are still there chatting, even if only about the weather. What a  difference a day makes.

Yes, we can dream, think, worry, agonize and hope. But unless we do something different the chances are that nothing will really change. Is there something in your life that you want to change?

B is for Beauty (A-Z Challenge)

"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)

 

 

Have you ever seen the film American Beauty? I have, many times, for its sheer depth and skill in depicting characters. The main character says something like '...it's hard to be mad when there's so much beauty in the world' right at the end of the film.

 

I know, from experience, that it's very easy to be blind to what's good in life when you are in a low mood. I'm sure those suffering depression will know this all too well. Sometimes we turn inward when we are unhappy and get tied up in our own little world of gloom and everything seems so much worse. But then, have you noticed how much better the world seems when your mood is good? What's changed, the world or just the way you look at the world? Trust me - in most cases the world is exactly as it was yesterday and it's only the way you perceive the world that has changed and that's the reason you feel bad.

 

Sometimes we need to forget ourselves and look with a different eye at the world around us; a person, place, picture, book, a sunrise, a mountain, the sky. You get the picture! In recent days I've been walking a lot and visiting a special place I love, high up overlooking the sea. And each time I have stood and allowed the cold wind to bite my face and listened to the crashing of the surf against the rocks - a simple pleasure bringing big rewards.

A is for Andy (A-Z Challenge)

So here we go for the first blog of the A to Z Challenge...

A is for Andy - that's me! To ease me into this challenge I thought I would say a few words about myself as a way of introduction. This challenge got me thinking about the origin and meaning of my name. Andrew (but call me Andy), it turns out, is of Greek origin (Andreas). I already know it means Man or Warrior, which I kind of like, and another meaning I came across was Manly, which has given my wife and kids hours of fun at my expense! Andrew was also the first chosen of the twelve apostles, which makes me feel very important and Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and Russia - it just gets better!

My intention is to take the A to Z Challenge's advice and keep my April blog posts short and to the point and am hoping that getting up an hour earlier every day to blog will help get me into a routine that will help me write consistently every day along the way to becoming a published writer. I'm looking forward to 'B' already.

2013 A to Z Challenge

Well, I've been shamed into taking up the 2013 A to Z Challenge. I resisted for as long as I could, but when I saw the very long list of participants I just had to join these good people. It really is quite a challenge: to blog every day of April following the alphabet - A on April 1, B on April 2 etc...

Out of the 1782 participants I am number 1514 and one ruleis to follow the blogger next in line. That means I will be following:

Byzantium Shores

I've already made contact and intend to offer some words of encouragement during the challenge. Thanks to Jak of Cryton Chronicles for his commitment to do the same for me.