il a disparu?

The ephemeral nature of the communication over the internet has always fascinated and troubled me. How could I have met some people so important in my life without it? And for someone like me, hermetic, shy, introverted perhaps, it helps facilitate a kind of open exchange that does not come so easily. Maybe the internet makes it too easy. Certainly in this blog I write of things that I would speak of only with the closest friends, or not at all.

So when one internet persona vanishes, it leaves a void for me like the absence of some friend. But I write for no one. Only for the words themselves. I am happy if someone reads my words and thinks something interesting as a result, or is entertained, or is affected in any way. And if not, well, what then? I won't know anyway.

Back in the days before e-mail was common, I was a ferocious letter-writer. When I lived in Chicago, I corresponded regularly with numerous friends in various locations. I have never liked to talk on the telephone, and letters were so much more important then. That has ended. No one writes them anymore. Sometimes I still do, but they go unanswered.