|
|
The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
|
a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
Editor's angle |
|
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
It's all perception Fifty years ago little men in white coats would have grabbed him and whisked him away to a padded cell. In 2003 the man talking animatedly to himself rated hardly a second glance in the crowded departure lounge. Tucked between his feet was his overnight bag, no doubt safely packed with 'jamas and toothbrush. On his knee the open laptop glowed with instant messaging. From the tiny mobile phone clipped to the pocket of the designer jacket a thin, black filament snaked upwards to the tiny earpiece clipped to his left ear. He spoke quickly into the microphone near his chin. His left hand curled around an electronic personal organiser. With his right hand clasping a stylus he scribbled numbers on its small screen. While speaking and scribbling he glanced at the laptop screen and putting down the stylus, hurriedly typed a couple of words. He was a communication centre!But in the midst of the crowd he looked so alone. No-one farewelled him. No-one sat close beside him. Messages were whizzing between himself and who knows how many others, but was it really communication? Was he part of a community? Someone said recently that over the last 50 or so years, people have withdrawn from community life in the street, drawing inwards behind their fences, behind their doors, and gradually inside their heads. It's safer there. It's under control. There's a perception that the world out there is too dangerous for face to face, up close and personal contact. Yet that perception is the danger: it can lead to a greatly distorted view of reality, a lack of connection with others. How can you share anything of yourself, much less God's love for all people, if you live inside your head? Some people need to get out more! |
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
