Love the thought
Have you ever fallen in love with a thought of a person? Your own picturesque, perfect image of someone? No, nevermind – not perfect – i don’t believe I could ever love perfection… But perhaps a memory from your past and a thought that that person would always be who you remembered them as; or maybe an image of who and what you want; or even a thought of what a person would be like from the small way that you know them (like reading their blog)…
Have you ever had that image shattered?
What once was, is no more, what you had hoped for is not what is, and what you thought you wanted is still not what you are searching for. Can an image be rebuilt? Can you recover the pieces of what you created and meld them with reality? Or is it possible that the truth is better than the fiction? [edit: (2004-10-20) Or that the fiction is better than the truth?]
Then again, maybe sometimes we just need to let our minds stop getting in the way of our heart. All I know is that winter is definitely on it’s way.
October 20th, 2004 at 1:17 am
Errol Flynn.
On the other hand, I have found out more about someone than my limited context and fallen or respected them more. (ie. Jon Stewart, for whom I’ve had a mondo crush has become even more adoration-worthy since his appearance on Crossfire).
The fictional nature of blogs makes it easy to idealize someone. Here’s this autobiographical storytelling machine. And you know it’s attached to a real person somewhere (or you’re pretty sure it is).
It’s a good question. I’ll probably answer it in my blog.
October 20th, 2004 at 4:05 pm
I am responding to the first half of your question; there is no answer to the second half, other than: “This game does suck sometimes. Drink some wine, listen to some old Fleetwood Mac, and feel better soon.”
I am developing an irrational hope that this world of blogging, while it totally does as you suggest (encourages us to build up a fantasy around other people), also provides a medium for us to understand people better, to find the depth we are looking for but can’t access any other way in others, and to grow in relationship with them. In short, more and more, I feel the fantasy piece is either a small price to pay for the benefits, or it may even be part of the benefits, of knowing others through blogging.