Conversations

Have blogs become the new conversations? I am contemplating reading Plato's "The Republic" (no, I am going to do it, not simply thinking about it*) and was reading a little online so that I might get a feel for it, to see whether it will be my usual few pages each night before sleep or a non-stop marathon (undecided so far) when I read a passage on the 3rd page where Plato speaks of gatherings for conversations. And I realized that I, we, rarely do this anymore.

I often did this with friends in my youth. Especially while in the Navy. When aboard a ship, out at sea for days or weeks, gatherings were common. Friends, both casual and close, would lounge on the fantail and chat. Most of the conversations were light, as Plato also described, and covered lies and half-truths and boasts about girls or past experiences. But some had more depth, philosophical, and covered our deep seated feelings about life. These conversations, more intimate and among close friends, are things I don't seem to do anymore.

I still chat with friends, even family, but they aren't weighty discussions about the affairs of Man or the meaning of it all. Just chats. I've had deeper conversations with my mirror.

Our conversations change over the years. When I was young, I thought and talked about all manner of things. Now, I just think about them and sometimes share these thoughts with you.

Oh, I still have conversations with my friends and associates. Mostly on the golf course. But they are shallow even though they range from politics to women. And that is a broad range indeed. Most of the conversations are actually just light banter. Or about immediate issues such as health or who recently passed away (a lot more of that lately since most of those I know around here are elder non-statesmen).

We banter mostly. Clever (we think) little insults about each other's game or weight or age. Nothing serious. Unless it concerns the weather. Weather has become a serious subject, it seems. But I digress.

I watch news shows on TV where various talking heads and pundits do more arguing without listening than anything else. Weighty discussions on PBS seem to have no give and take, all very one sided, all in some agreement or answering oh so probing questions of an interviewer who seems more enamored of the guest than knowledgeable of the subject at hand. And all of these interviews seem to be book promotions.

I miss philosophical discussions with my intellectual peers. Or with those I find to be superior intellects. The latter are different than those who think themselves to be superior intellects. I am reluctant to start such discussions. I am fearful to be thought of as a "stick in the mud". I want to be liked, to be seen as cheerful and bouyant.

Depressing, don't you think?


(* It is now a month since I wrote that and I still haven't started reading "The Republic")