So… a bunch of us were talking about “guys” in the digital age. And I thought the only obstacle was my age. Now I’m not only chronologically challenged but gender challenged. Does anyone have a good statistic on how many men actually chat, and enjoy it? Just sitting down this morning was in competition with a dozen things “to do.” Get it, we “do” stuff, we don’t “talk” about it. That’s a generalization I know. My social media mentor (@jdgem on Twitter) is exceptional at creative talking. Most of us guys though are experts at saying what happened in one sentence and without feeling. But I believe in progress and so I sit down to say again that I’m committed to this for the long haul and that if that means learning to walk and talk all over again, then I will do that.
Years ago my wife and I moved to San Jose Costa Rica to learn Spanish in El Instituto de Lengua Espanola. Each morning consisted of a pep talk from the president of the Institute. We, along with dozens of like minded Spanish speaking wannabes had experienced our first few dismal failures at learning a foreign tongue (not unlike my current forays into social media). And the novelty of conquering foreign lands speaking a foreign tongue had been replaced by humiliation and the prospect of sounding like a bumbling idiot for a long hard time to come. So Aulden Coble’s words couldn’t have been more timely or more appropriate to the hour. “Unless you become like a child…” He was reminding us that a child learns to walk by falling and getting up and falling again. She learns to talk by babbling and noise making interspersed with the occasionally recognizable word. But she moves forward until she’s running without falling and getting her thoughts out in full sentences.
So ya… I’m in this for the long haul. I believe the end will be worth the beginning. I learned how to walk and talk and even learned to speak Spanish quite well. Don’t let me talk myself out of it. We are in the age of social media, the new word of mouth. I’m actually blogging. It’s good for Harold and it’s good for Ice Decor!