As I am sitting here in my hotel in Munich working on a document with the window open. At 6:00 pm I hear church bells chiming. It makes me pause. For some reason the bells make me feel connected. Connected to the thousands of people in Munich that just heard those same church bells. Strangely, hearing those bells made me consider those around me. We are all hearing the bells together. A universal connection to the community. For a moment, I thought about all the people that were hearing the bells. People in their homes, apartments, cars, riding their bikes or walking on the street. I wondered why I had this feeling. Then I started to realize that I don’t have this feeling very often. Our culture and technology has really taken away most of these experiences. We have no connections to our local communities. Sure we are “connected.” If by “connected” you mean that you can reach anyone by email, wireless phone, Internet, etc. But is this really community? No – this is the ability to reach other like-minded individuals in a communication network. Maybe a virtual community, but not a local community. It is an ability to communicate, but not a means to really connect with others.There is something special about feeling a sense of connection to those you are physically around on a daily basis. Consider the universal appeal and emotion around the final episode of the TV show M.A.S.H. Why was this so special? Because EVERYONE watched the last episode of M.A.S.H. Sure it was a fine TV show, but what it really represented was a chance to connect with everyone around you. You could talk about the characters and emotions with anyone. The preverbal “water cooler” talk. It was a connection to those in your physical presence. We don’t have that anymore. The Internet, video games, cable, satellite radio, and iPods have made us a world of specialized and targeted entertainment and communication. The news is even targeted to your personal preferences (e.g. CNN vs. Fox). My generation has not had a TV show with universal appeal. There is no more water cooler talk. When you want to discuss a TV show or movie with someone, you can never assume they have seen it. You don’t feel connected. We have no common experiences . . . except for tragedy.
Consider the emotions that were generated after 9-11 and the shared remorse when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. Everyone saw the country “come together.” In a strange way, while these were terrible events, they made us feel good. People talked about common courtesy being on the rise. We cared for others. We connected with our neighbors. This shared experience made us think about, and appreciate, those around us. It connected us.
These days how many of us spend time with and actually know our neighbors. I don’t mean know their name and occupation, but know who they are - what they like, where they grew up, their world view. I think we are creatures that desire fellowship. God has wired us in such a way that relationships are the most important thing in our lives. Relationship with spouses, friends, family, and those around us that do not share our common view. I believe that feeling connected to the local community has never been harder then it is today.
Hearing the church bells also makes me appreciate the things that last in this world. I know people 100 years ago, in this same town, heard those same church bells. It’s really amazing. A connection to the past. Long ago the church bells told everyone the time and called entire communities together. People of all different walks of life and views on the world. They were called together for church, together for events, together for dinner. What calls us together now? Almost nothing. If you are like my family, we rarely even have dinner together. These church bells give me a sense of community with those who lived in this city many years ago. We have now shared an identical experience and it makes me consider their lives. A sense of community.
Interestingly, it was also fortuitous that I heard them at all. If I would have had the air-conditioning on, my window closed, my iPod going, or any of my other modern distractions, I would have never heard the bells at all. I would have never considered the people of Munich.
It seems that today's culture and technology are taking away the things that connect us. The connections that bond us together. Make us feel included and loved. Certainly we have improved communication (you are reading this blog), but this is not community. Maybe this is one reason people commit crimes against others in their own home town. Maybe this is why people are constantly seeking out new relationships (good or bad) to fill the void in their lives. We need fellowship with those around us.
It is a shame that today’s society is eliminating common experiences that help create fellowship, community and love.
1 comment:
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. Perchance he for whom this bell tolls, may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me...may have caused it to toll for me...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Earnest Hemmingway (who shot himself in 1961) gets a lot of credit for this because of his famous poem. It was John Donne (who was obsessed with death and achieved it 1631) in Meditation XVII.
To some, Shawn, the tolling bells meant something other than a communal consciousness. To some, before you and I, they summoned the intoxications of depression and fixations on death. It’s fascinating how things change and what changes as time rushes by.
Good writings; Jerry Nixon.
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