After driving 2 hours to see Good Luck at a house show in St. Augustine, and hanging out with new people and friends alike at Jay's house party, I've come to find that music really does bring people together. More important than the music itself, is the formation of friendship that it merely facilitates. For a while life had seemed rather monotonous, dragging to a stand still with the conclusion of high school and a surplus of free time, but in those few hours spent with people from all different places, both friends and strangers, I felt a kindred spirit of the most simple human connection awake within me. Differences aside, we all formed a bond by the mere fact that we were in the same place, enjoying each others company. We all need a greater understanding of love for the collective body of man as opposed to our individualistic preoccupations.

Speaking of preoccupations, it seems that presently, I included, Western society as a whole is too dependent upon the Internet for the building of relationships. Social networking has more or less become a replacement for personal interaction. What someone has on their Myspace page has become more important than the person who created it. The style, not only in design, but in the type of speech, (dare I call it speech), rather slang used in addressing one another has belittled the elegance of Language to a substandard level, rivaling that of the unfortunately uneducated. It is expected that one must "dumb himself down" in order to express an idea that can only be expressed with elevated language.

More importantly, aside from the degradation of language, is the loss of genuine honesty inherent within face-to-face contact. Truth boxes are a clear example. They're harmless in and of themselves, but at the same time, they only further exemplify the loss of touch with reality that is slowly but surely dissipating in our lives. Not only does one refrain from speaking heartfelt beliefs to a friend's face, but now it has gotten to the point where it is impossible to do so even over the Internet. We all need a wake up call. To call this a tirade against Myspace and organized networking would be fallacious, but rather it is simply an observation of our over-dependence on them. If the underpinnings of true friendship are honesty and dedication, then why do we avoid the chance to perform our duties to our friends at all costs? Write letters, call people up on on the phone, talk to a bum on the street. The slightest bit of human kindness goes a long way in the expression of what it really means to be human, to be the physical manifestation of love.

...and it ended with love.