In the quiet hum of the morning train, I sit bathed in the feeble warmth of my overused laptop, my fingers dancing tentatively over the keys as they spill my thoughts onto the screen. The lukewarm coffee in the plasticky cup nearby offers little comfort as I glance outside, the world wrapped in a shroud of steely grey, painting a gloomy, 9-degree canvas for me to write on.
My mind, however, is not entirely here, captured in this physical reality of coldness and sobriety. It sits thousands of kilometers away, nestled among the lives of dear friends, strewn across different corners of the world. We sit, separated by miles, oceans, time zones yet kept close by the tenuous strings of shared memories and laughter. As the rhythmic lull of the train merges with my thoughts, I ponder on a relevant subject: How to maintain long-distance friendships.
Such a topic draws to mind the turbulent ongoings in this world, like the thousands of innocent lives displaced amidst an unwarranted meleé in northeastern Ukraine. The gloomy specter of war, seen in the subtle lines of a news article, illustrates how our world is drifting apart in its own way. The chaos of today shapes the context for the friendships we attempt to sustain over these distances.
In the case of long-distance friendships, technology provides the modern lantern that lights our path. Social media, video calls, instant messaging - these magical tools whisk us across continents and into the lives of our distant friends within the space of seconds. Yet, the bitter truth nestled amidst this marvel is how the same technology that brings us closer also emotionlessly amplifies the somber realities of the world; like the fog of turbulence shrouding Ukraine right now.
Heartening it may be to hear the familiar laughter of a friend at the other end of a video call; disheartening it is to read of the suffering and mass strife in the same world where our friendships thrive. It is incredibly jarring, the war within these digital windows, how one may breed the warmth of connection and the other, the chill of despair.
And so, maintaining long-distance friendships becomes less about battling the challenges of time zones and missed calls, but more about navigating this ocean of paradoxical realities that we live in simultaneously.
You see, in this gloom-tinted world where civilians flee from danger and accusations are traded like toys in a sandbox, one has to remember to be grateful for those far-off friendships. Grateful for the resonance of shared human experience in the vast body of drifting faces and names. Grateful for a text received late in the night, for hearty laughter echoing over poor reception, for shared stories of daily lives, mundane and extraordinary.
These friendships, must be cultivated with patience and understanding, always remembering that behind the screen, there is another human adjoining in the chaotic tapestry of human existence. Allow for differences in opinions and perspective and let that be the strength, the glue that binds your friendship together – a mutual respect for each other's life experiences and insights.
Perhaps then, long-distance friendships can be our anchor, a beacon of burning hope in the cold, gloomy reality we inhabit. As we relentlessly grapple against the tides of fragility and impermanence, they serve as poignant reminders of smiling faces, shared moments and echoing laughter in the chambers of our minds, a sanctuary in a world so often marked by chaos, made far too real by the parts of the world we don’t inhabit but can't ignore.
Tags: long-distance friendships technology and relationships global conflicts