A remote in my hand lets me control devices. I’m happy.
How close is far, when the pandemic does not allow me to be a part of my neighbor’s joys and sorrows? Isolated by the virus, I draw closer to the world with messages and calls.
But those who are far … remain far. I can share, but feel. Warmth is to be felt in words, not touch. Vision needs a screen, if not eyeglasses.
Distance is the newest oxymoron. But wait, hybrid modes are not far behind.
It’s a new world, a new vocabulary. Realign, redesign, redefine …
Written for Story Challenge in 99 words
Reena Saxena 
The pandemic sped up the acceptance (necessity) of these new kinds of closeness through screened devices. I don’t always like the changing vocabulary, like “facetime” should mean time when a real face is in front of your own real face.
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F2F in the office meant in-person meetings. The new term is ‘offline’.
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I can see a sharp cutoff between the ages of someone who would look at this piece optimistically, and someone who looks at it with a sense of sadness. I guess it’s all progress and, in a sense, evolution, but that doesn’t make me like it (“it” = the changes, not your story!) more. I liked this line a lot: “Warmth is to be felt in words, not touch.”
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I’d go with acceptance, rather than optimism or sadness.
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Well said, Reena. A new paradigm for sure, unfortunately. ~nan
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Thank you, Nan!
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Reblogged this on Sharing Thoughts.
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‘Distance is the newest oxymoron.’ So true. New ways of life, accept it or accept it. No choice. Scary for me. Very well expressed.
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Accept it 🙂 Thank you, Indira!
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You’ve written about the new norms, the new way of life Reena
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I often wondered why a certain festival celebrated the birth of a deity is celebrated a month later in the South. It is perhaps because the news took a month to reach the South via a messenger. Times change. The future generations will look at our physical meetings in the same way, as I see that festival.
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Interesting! Yes, that could be the reason. Things are changing rapidly
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