As the sun leaves you for the day, someone is just greeting it in their morning.  We tend to live in our own little section of the world.  Often we forget as we are shoveling snow and it is the cold of winter, that someone is enjoying the warmth of a summer day on a beach.

The world really opens up for a lot of people when they start communicating with others on the internet talking about their lives.  Many of the prejudicial barriers are removed.  Through the use of computers people are growing to know and understand one another.

I have traveled much of North America and have always been surprised at the number of people who have never left their province or state.   Living in the Great White North, called Canada and raising Samoyed sled dogs, more than once I have been innocently asked if we use vehicles.  Perhaps it is the educational systems, maybe it is the blinder affect of seeing and knowing only what you have been exposed to in life.

The internet has been an eye opener for many.  Now we talk about our friends that live thousands of miles away.  Often we will set an alarm clock or more than likely just lose sleep, in order to talk to someone on the other side of the world.  I, for one think it is fantastic that people are meeting world wide and sharing their lives and experiences on a one to one basis.

Think about your life prior to the internet, how frequently you even communicated with distant relatives and friends?  I am one of the world's worst people to sit down and write a friendly letter of correspondence.  Yet daily I communicate to many I have never met with emails and online chats.

One of the reasons, I believe I enjoy the internet communication is the relative ease and speed of responses through emails or immediate feedback through the online chats.

Secondly, I believe as a whole this is the friendliest means of communication I have ever experienced.  The sharing of information on how to operate programs and computers is amazing and is a common bond.

Thirdly, people from north, south, east and west are meeting and talking.  The topics are as varied as the people themselves.

The end result is this group of people are forming a family of friends, building relationships and the barriers that might occur on the street meeting a stranger are removed.  We are seeing the world as it truly is, leaving our doorsteps through the words of others to learn that everywhere you live people are the same.   They have the same fears, ambitions, and desires and like the Berlin wall the barrier is down and the flooding of information is tremendous.  Knowledge abounds within the internet community and is shared openly.  Emotions and life experiences are expressed and discussed.

To some it may be addiction and there are some negative drawbacks to overuse of the internet. Not all usage is the most beneficial and it does demand more of your time as you become increasing committed.  With this said I hear the voices of some close friends and family members saying, "Right on".  On the positive side communicating with an individual is better than being glued in front of a television learning commercials by heart.  I have always read and find I am still reading but now the books do not clutter my shelves. 

I ask these two simple questions.  Did you ever think that what was occurring on the other side of the world as the sunsets in your sky, would have so much meaning to you? That you would have so much care and concern about how it rose on the other side of the world where you have now gained and built internet friendships? Perhaps because the day is never done on the internet and the sun never sets as it is shinning on one of us all the time.

                       Cheryl C. Helynck

                                   1998