There was an old joke that asked: what are top three ways to pass information to others? 

Answer:
Telephone, Television, and Tell a  woman.

Now, I think that punch line would have to be: 
IPad, IPhone, and IPosted it on Facebook.

In some ways, social media with all of the constant  updating annoys me. It seems almost ridiculous that we post less than  news-worthy information as freely as we do, as if we are certain that the world  is so amazed with us that everyone deserves to know whether we ate traditional  Cheerios this morning or Honey Nut.  What  is this craving we have to be known? We want people to see our pictures, to know  that we are shopping at Target, to read what we are thinking.
In some ways, this  blog is a testament to that, as well. After all, apparently I imagine, possibly  as some subtle sign of my own arrogance, that people may just want to hear my  thoughts on subjects like red shoes, love, and… well… social  media.

Perhaps, though, this tweeting and updating is more  of a reflection of our mobility than of our arrogance or curiosity. In years  past, when families rarely ventured out of their home towns, it may have been  easier to keep track of one another. We saw each other, I imagine, at the drug  stores or walking downtown. We probably passed one another on sidewalks where we  said things like, “I just had the best
spaghetti at Sally’s mom’s diner. Did you  know they had spaghetti there?” There was something friendly, I suppose, about  sharing the non-earth-shattering details like, “Jody fell from the swing, so I’m  here to buy some mercurochrome.” After all, everyone can spout the headlines,  but only the most trusted and intimate of our friends know the nitty-gritty  happenings of our daily lives.For the 21st century, social media is our way of  maintaining some of what Mayberry had to offer. We can gossip, share our  thoughts, ideas, fears and situations in a way we might have shared with our  druggist, our barber, our filling station attendant in previous decades. Since  we aren’t as likely to pass our friends on the sidewalk anymore,
we can  substitute the posting of our little one-liners to pass information through our  profile pages. We may have become busier and more removed from others, but  clearly, we’re not willing to live without some way to tell someone a funny joke  we just heard.

It’s important  to feel connected, to think that someone cares what made us happy today (which  they can “Like,” if it makes them happy, too) or watch as a quote we thought was  interesting spurs conversations
between our friends who live hundreds of miles  apart. We can move out of our parent’s homes, out of the towns of our  childhoods, across or completely out of the country. Still, thanks to social  media, no matter how mobile we have become, we can feel connected to the people  in our community by sharing those
little, day-in-the-life details that only  friends care to hear. 

I guess when I think of it like passing a neighbor  on the street and saying, “Hi! I’m headed to the grocery. Do you know if peaches  are on sale?” I don’t mind all the Tweeting one bit. In fact, it makes the world  seem a little more like a small town and just a little friendlier. So, if you’ll  please excuse me, I think I’ll go update my status. And while I’m at it, I’ll  look for yours and hope it reveals that you are having a joy- filled day!

Lately, between a few vacation days, a holiday and my generalized lack of inspiration, I have not been writing at all. I suppose you may not have missed my “weekly” blog, but in case you did, let me just say that I took a break. Now that the nation is looking at another mass killing, however, I thought I might just weigh-in, because talking (or in my case, writing) is one of the most efficient ways for me to process information. 

My questions are probably common ones… What kind of a person opens fire in a movie theater? What did he hope to accomplish? How will families heal from this? How will those who suffered wounds best recover not only from the physical wounds, but also from the emotional trauma? How will they cope with, maybe, never knowing why this happened at all?

That’s the issue: coping. It seems that one of the natural consequences of being human is that we must continually cope. We cope with the stresses of our jobs, of our family obligations, of financial pressures. We cope with losses, and heartbreak, and questions which will never have an answer. It really doesn’t matter what side of the fence we are on… whether we are close to a situation like this shooting or far removed, just the fact that it happened throws something else onto our proverbial Coping Plate. 
 
When we are faced with shocking information, something that throws us off the train, so to speak, from our regular patterns of thought, we cannot just continue on our normal route. Something is forever changed. Sorting through that change takes time, and talking, and the support of other people who care. 

People of Aurora, CO, please know that we all care. We, like you, are asking questions, trying to make some sense of this. Perhaps, as I do when I am thrown off track, you may find that you need a sabbatical… a break from the news stories, a break from the retrospection, a break from feeling sadness, or survivor’s guilt (get information here), or fear for the state of man. I hope you will give yourselves the opportunity to heal from this gaping wound. I hope you will look for resources. I hope you will journal, rest, work, and grieve your way through this, however you must. 
 
And when you feel the weight of your sadness might be too much to bear, please talk. As the wise Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said,
                 
                 “Well it has been said that there is no grief like the grief which does not speak.” 
 
You must talk about this. And we will. And together, we will find our own tracks, again.