The difference between virtual and real friends
When I spend too much time in the forums, most of the time I am surrounded by friendly people. And spending too much time on the forums means you might even mistake the friendly people for friends.
The more MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and what-have-you are integrated in our private life, the more "virtual friends" we have. It's important to remember that that's all they are... virtual friendships. No matter how much fun you are having online, never neglect your real-life friends.
I have different friends. Two that live close by and are my closest friends, the ones that don't ask questions when I call up crying, but jump in the car and are here within a heartbeat.
Some I go out partying with, and don't interact with much outside of the parties.
Some are old college friends, and while we hardly ever keep in touch, when we do see each other, it is as if no time has passed at all. If I call today that I need to stay at their place in Dubai, Amsterdam, Paris or wherever they might be right now, they will have the guest room up and running by the time I arrive.
And then I have some Etsy and Internet acquaintances that I keep in touch with through blogs and e-mail. People where I can bitch about Etsy, gossip, people who I can help out with graphic design and stuff... None of my real-life friends have any clue what I am actually doing here on Etsy, so where's the point in telling them that this-and-that reseller has opened a new store?
But my real-life friends are there when it counts.
April last year, I broke my ankle. One moment I was upright carrying ferrets to their outside enclosure, the next I was crawling on my knees (still carrying 3 ferrets.) Placed them in the enclosure, locked the door, went to hospital. Broken ankle, torn ligament.
And then I called Corinna, one of my best friends. Who was there within 2 hours to take my ferrets along with her, because wearing a cast, I was in no condition to take care of them.
I couldn't have done that with virtual friends who are at the other end of the world.
Corinna also took my ferrets when I went to Milano last month. Okay, she "lost" one of them for half a day, but I am sure she feels really, really sorry about that.
Lotte decided to have an adventure and escaped from her ferret-safe balcony (apparently safe, except when Lotte is around), took a stroll through busy Hamburg and fell into a gully 3 ft. deep. Couldn't get out again, luckily Corinna found her after 6 hours or so... and boy, was Lotte glad to see her.
Corinna must have gone through hell... Losing someone else's pet? That's worse than losing one of your own. Yet she didn't call me... she knew I would have been worried sick, yet stuck in Italy. And when she told me upon my return, Lotte was home safe again, so no harm done.
That's what friends are for.
