Most of the time we seem to be wandering aimlessly through the "maze of life" with no real sense
of belonging. Even if we start out full of optimism and enthusiasm, the bright sheen of these "virtues"
is eventually dulled and tarnished by the experiences we encounter in our travels through life. As chinks
are noticed in the "armor" of the facades we all construct individually to deal with surviving everyday life
we all seem to be looking for new material to help fortify the decaying buttresses, unwilling to let any of
our constructs just fall away, no matter how archaic. But these same walls that keep us all relatively "safe"
within their confines also effectively keep everyone else at "arm's length" from us, unable to see the real
people we are behind the walls. So in maintaining these walls we effectively make it even less likely that
anyone interested in establishing even the most casual preliminary relationship will expend the required
effort for it. And even if someone does commit themselves to making the effort, often the convolutions of
the inner keep of our personal domains either outrightly thwarts or significantly impedes that commitment.
As our private walls become more fortified, it conversely often appears that our ideals are seeming to erode,
or it just that their prominence is less evident through disuse? Cynicism often seems to overshadow most
of our opinion-forming processes. It seems to have become the "weapon" of choice in combatting things
we oppose intellectually. In effect we are all in the process of becoming little isolated entities, but with the
new technological capabilities to interact with other isolated entities when the situation requires us to do so.
Is it any wonder that computers and the internet have become so popular? Although both have brought about
vast progress towards making us a true global community, they have also given us yet another viable alternative
to not developing and/or improving interpersonal skills. People can now talk with anyone in the world, shop,
pay bills, even work through access to the internet without ever having to leave their homes..... and many do.