Is Technology Stealing Our Voice?

  My mind goes back to my youth as I think about an Uncle of mine who would come visit us every month. When he entered the home, you knew you were going to be enveloped in his arms and loved on by him and this brought great anticipation for me each time I would see him.He would also speak to me with great compassion and love, I never questioned his love for me as his niece because he made it a priority to demonstrate his love through his hugs and his words.

  I was recently introduced to the name Leo Buscaglia who was a "cheerleader for life." I love the image this label delivers! He was quoted as saying "To live in love is to live in life, and to live in life is to live in love." He went on to explain "It's not enough to have lived. We should determine to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely." Only you will be able to discover, realize, develop and actualize your uniqueness. And when you do, it's your duty to then "give it away." 
Fast forward to 2012 and I can honestly say that I fear we are losing sight of the importance of

demonstrating and communicating love.....do you feel this way as well? We only need to look at the decline in family unity, true friendships and the lack of love through human relationships to see that we're missing out on the opportunity to truly experience love in our lives.

Don't buy this idea? You may be the exception and if you are, I'd love to sit with you for a spell and learn your secret! But for the rest of the readers, you are potentially part of the group that is leading us away from the act of delivering and communicating love?
Still not in agreement? How about some facts to stew upon for a while......

• There are over 500 million Facebook Users and this number continues to grow
• Facebooks logs over 41.1 BILLION minutes of use each year!!
• United States citizens spent approximately 16% of their total time on Facebook

You may be sitting there reading this and thinking to yourself "ok, so we spend a lot of time online, it's really not that big of a deal." Take a few moments and see how you answers these statements (high five to you if you can answer honestly!):
In the last 48 hours I have:

• Hugged at least two people - Hugging is not just a "chest press"....it's a "embrace someone with firm loving arms and holding on to them for a few moments to show them you care"
• Visited with someone whom I care about (not someone you work with every day or live with, although this is good to do, it's not what we're talking about)
• Sent a card or note to someone you know is ill or going through a tough time AND wrote a personal note in it
• Called someone to talk and find out how they're doing. {Note....how "they're" doing. Meaning, you didn't call to talk all about yourself or to have a complaint session!}
• Paid someone a compliment
• Gone to a quiet place and prayed for someone

So.....how did you do? Did you read the list and say "yeah...like anyone really has time for all that." Or "this is unreasonable and not as important as I'm making it out to be."
 Remember the uncle I mentioned before? I'll guarantee you that he could answer this list with one big resounding "YES" without hesitation!! No special power, no extra time on his hands, no secret skills." My uncle, like Mr. Leo Buscaglia understood the importance of human relationships, delivering and communicating love.
We've got our priorities messed up and until we recognize this, take ownership of it and change, it's only going to get worse.....and that's truth!!
So get off your computer, sign out of facebook, put your phone on silent (or have someone else hold it), and stop texting your words to others......in other words....quit escaping and start living!!! Show people you care about them (you do care don't you?) by delivering and communicating love....it may freak them out when you first do it (if they have never seen this side of you) but they'll grow to appreciate and love you for it.
Don't let technology steal your voice because your voice is only the beginning... what you lose after that may never be recovered......
Theresa