“Connection is one of the absolutes of life.”

A thought by Leonard Sweet (2012-03-13) from his book, Viral: How Social Networking Is Poised to Ignite Revival (Kindle Location 143). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Have you ever watched The Voice on NBC on Monday night? If you haven’t, there are 4 celebrities who have their backs to a person who is singing and if they want that person to be on their team they push a button and then they are turned around to see what the person looks like. They make their choice just on their voice not on their looks. You wonder sometimes if they wouldn’t have made their chose if they would have seen what they looked like.

In our need to connect so much is based upon our appearance. I think that is why in many cases social media has been such a success. We may have more confidence to connect with someone because they don’t know what we look like. I know the danger in that but I also know the deep loneliness and to many it is worth the risk.

We really do need each other, we really do but we miss so many meaningful relationships because of the way people look. I’ll be honest; I have for many years played down the way I looked. I found that initially it would hurt me but if I kept at it and put a smile on my face and a deep interest in people I could connect with almost anyone. I said one statement to a guy yesterday at Starbucks and he before he was done told me the problems he was having at work. Another person on the walking trail told me that her husband had a brain tumor. Another person said they needed another job. Just one day and these people needed to connect with someone who was really interested in them and what they were going through.

One very lonely person that I had never talked to after they had shared with me their hurts said with tears in their eyes, “Thanks so much for asking.”

Somehow people need us to look beyond how they look and really connect with who they are. We really do need to do that.

So how are you doing today?

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