I just returned from a seven day cruise. Besides the relaxation, new scenery, exciting day trips to never before visited places, I think what I enjoyed as much was meeting and talking to the people who were on this cruise.
We met people from all over the United States and Canada. As we sat for dinner or a glass of wine, we talked and shared about where we lived, places we have traveled, our interests and backgrounds.
Over the course of a week, we would bump into each other at various places on board, laugh and joke and at times shared phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
Most cell phones were turned off since we had entered another country. But we found we didn’t need them except to take pictures.
How fun to talk face to face, see expressions and hear inflections and the tone of messages. Has life become so hectic that we have to go on a cruise to find time to sit, relax and talk with one another for a few minutes? How sad that today’s conversations are often fast sound bites texted to one another.
Since my dear friend of many years returned to spend a few extra days with me, we continue to reminisce and talk about our lives. When I take her home, I will miss those moments of shared conversation, laughter and sometimes intense discussion.
In his book, “Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life”, Eric Greitens, a former Navy Seal, quotes Antiphon (Fifth Century BC,
“There are people who do not live their present life; it is as if they were preparing themselves, with all their zeal, to live some other life, but not this one. And while they do this, time goes by and is lost.” Antiphon (Fifth Century BC).
Sometimes, we get so busy making a living, that we don’t take time to “live.” Living is creating meaning in our life through our work and play and the friendships we have.Like Antiphon, it can be good to remind ourselves not to be so busy that we forget to live.
Antiphon died two thousand five hundred years ago. But his words still resonate as we reflect on how we can live a more meaningful life. Conversations are one way that creates meaning for me.
Marlene Anderson
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I relaxed just reading about sitting, relaxing and talking with one another . . . thank you for the reminder . . . the simple joy of conversation.