{"id":5680,"date":"2017-08-22T09:33:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T16:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideout.insidewp.test\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2017-08-22T09:33:54","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T16:33:54","slug":"new-kind-of-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2017\/08\/22\/new-kind-of-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"This I Believe: A NEW KIND OF RELATIONSHIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past semester in English 11, Mrs. Dani DeJong shared a collection of essays from National Public Radio\u2019s program, \u201cThis I Believe<\/a>.\u201d She then challenged her students to write their own personal credo about a core principle that defines their life. The array of topics, concerns, and passions were as diverse as the students themselves. <\/em><\/p>\n

The ACS Inside Out blog is excited to present their essays in our 2017 summer blog series, \u201cThis I Believe: Eight Personal Credos by Eight ACS Students.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

PART EIGHT: \u00a0A New Kind of Relationship
\nBy Evan Franklin<\/h3>\n

Growing up, have you ever felt lonely? You know you aren\u2019t \u201calone\u201d, but it\u2019s that feeling that nobody understands, listens, or cares about who you are, what you think or what you do. Everybody has gone through this at least once in their life, some more than others.<\/p>\n

But how do people deal with this?<\/p>\n

Pen Pals<\/span><\/h2>\n

With the invention of the personal computer, the invention of electronic mail came to be, and slowly over the years a new form of communication and relationships were formed. This being online friends (also known as \u201cpen pals\u201d depending on who you ask).<\/p>\n

I was talking to one of my internet friends, it was just a normal friendly conversation, when his mom walked in and asked what he was doing. He said he was just talking to one of his friends. I remember hearing her say, \u201cA friend is somebody you see at the bus stop, not somebody you talk to through a computer screen.\u201d<\/em> Over the years I\u2019ve seen more and more parents and adults, still thinking that every online interaction could be an episode of Dateline NBC, where Chris Hansen is going to ask you to \u201ctake a seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends Anywhere<\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve never understood the problem people have had with online friends.<\/p>\n

For years, I\u2019d get home, hop onto my computer, and there\u2019s where I\u2019d have my human interaction for the day. I had interests that weren\u2019t commonly shared, my \u201cfriends\u201d weren\u2019t good people and it wasn\u2019t easy to connect with others.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I\u2019ve talked to so many people online and formed these strong friendships all over the world that have really helped me during the lonelier times in life. Whether it was just playing games, or talking about life, to giving each other tips on drawing. It\u2019s the same thing as keeping up with an old friend on Facebook.<\/strong><\/span> You aren\u2019t going to see each other in person, but you can still talk face to face with a webcam, or listen to each other through a phone. You\u2019re just taking out that initial \u201ctouch\u201d aspect, which although can be nice, doesn\u2019t make or break a relationship.<\/p>\n

Face to Face<\/span><\/h2>\n

During Spring break, I had the honour of meeting one of my online friends in person! Although it was incredibly weird at first, we ended up having the exact same conversations, arguments, and jokes as the ones we had over a skype call. The only difference was it being in person, instead of a screen. So was there any real difference in our relationship? No.<\/p>\n

We shouldn\u2019t be putting barriers on what a friendship is and isn\u2019t. A friendship is simply two people that enjoy each other\u2019s company.<\/p>\n

Does it matter how the two communicate? I\u2019d say, it really doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

A friend is a friend at the end of the day, and that isn\u2019t defined if it\u2019s in person or through a screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past semester in English 11, Mrs. Dani DeJong shared a collection of essays from National Public Radio\u2019s program, \u201cThis I Believe.\u201d She then challenged her students to write their own personal credo about a core principle that defines their life. The array of topics, concerns, and passions were as diverse as the students themselves. […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":3295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,19],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-secondary","category-summer-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5680"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=5680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}