Keeping up with the latest service offerings, restaurant openings, and kitchen gadgets has become a lot easier since a friend of mine starting sharing the best of his finds on Facebook. Only the very best or worst qualify for a public comment. When they randomly come, the message and review is concisely blunt and to the point. Great service, effectively priced, wonderful experience with extraordinary attitude, new tool that helps an excellent chef move into the exceptional category or the opposite extreme.
While I am not interested in, would not use, and at times cannot afford, if for nothing else, the posts make for great reading! I have come to appreciate the value in capturing one’s experience and sharing it with others.
It helps! Having someone try, experience, and share their experience with candor and honesty creates a unique level of insight. I am not looking for an ironclad guarantee of usefulness. I do appreciate more details, usability comments, and a critique. The expanded foundation creates a window through which I can see the product, service, or experience with a broader lens.
It is fun! The writer and I regularly try to catch up. I frequently catch myself using a virtual conversation as a starting point for more. In the busy chaos of normal life, Facebook does not replace tangible relationships. It does fill a gap and creates invitations to physically connect. When we do, the virtual conversations give us the potential to start with laughter and reflection and then go on to new discoveries.
It ties our journeys and lives together in tighter ways. Families, events, and challenges are frequently interlinked. I find the threads and bonds that link us grow, strengthen, and tighten with the combination of insights, shared stories, reflection that follows the investment in time and attention.
To each that has shared, please keep it up! A psalmist’s words still ring true; “Write it so the story can be told in Zion, so God’s praise will be sung in Jerusalem’s streets!” (Psalm 102.21) It is fun to be part of the ride.
