In the living room, sitting side-by-side with the Mister, I noticed he was enraptured by his smart phone. I remarked that studies had shown infants (whose parents were always checking in digitally) weren’t developing language skills, emotional recognition, or social bonds as quickly as previous generations; because their parents weren’t looking them in the face.

If you are thinking that was an extremely subtle (cough) nudge or shove for some realtime attention you’d be right.

And this is why he’s one of my favorite human beings — and has been for 33 years — he set the phone down, put his arms around me and said, “Honey. You’re right. The first sixty years are so important.”

“Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.“

Charles Dickens

***

Speaking of electric communication, my digital presence is a balancing act I haven’t quite figured out. I teeter between wanting to disappear, and calling for a crusade.

What I wrote here about my husband is indicative of how I used to engage in blog-life before the great disheartening…which is how I refer to events following November 8th.

I talked a lot. Which somehow seems inappropriate considering the state of the world, and the need for action in the face of ignorance, cruelty, and — I could write for want of a better word, but really this word is the most fitting — evil.

What gives me hope about the online world, is that it’s rallying those who stand in defiance. It’s a global resistance to demagogues bent on burning everything that works to make life better while pretending to “return” their countries to some imaginary perfection, to some delusive state of grace while greedily lining their own pockets.

It rallies citizens who won’t stay silent during repeated assaults on freedom; or during grievous attempts to stifle the science that insures the health of our planet and future generations.

I have great faith in the young who swim in the digital ocean. I suspect their interconnectivity will be our salvation.

Here’s your quote for a Sunday:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Martin Luther King Jr.