World Rache Day
I just wrote a friend of mine (need you ask what her name is? See title if it’s not painfully obvious!) a testimonial saying that I declare today World Rache Day.
Hey, I’m just plain weird, so shut the hell up >.<. In fairness, there’s a nice ring to the name "World Rache Day". I like how it rolls off your tongue pretty nicely! It’s funny though: I don’t know for what particular reason I derive amusement on such a prosaic little thing as simply viewing her profile and dropping her a simple thoughtful testimonial, but I’m just plain happy that I have her as a friend. And were you to ask me four years ago whether I’d actually get to know Rache well, I’d probably scoff it off and say "I wish!"
Let me get this point accross: I’m not her boyfriend. Each of us are living lives of our own. Heck, we haven’t seen each other for nearly 4 years now and the only form of communication we have for each other is by instant messaging through internet, cellular phone and sometimes friendster messages. The funny thing is that I didn’t even know her that much while she was still in the same school as I. We talked, yeah, but our conversations have never gone beyond answering the commonplace questions of "how are you" "what’s been up" and "got test". She graduated when I was in my second year of college and I thought that’s it: the day when I hear of her the last has pretty much gone to pass.
Nearly one year later came the advent of friendster. Now if you think this is a "true-friendster-inspirational story" article, this isn’t. I’m not vouching for anything, or anyone. In fact, I wrote this entry almost purely on impulse, with little to no thought of the words I type. But where was I? Oh yeah, friendster. Anyway, it took a while before I expanded my list of friends where eventually I found my friend who has Rache as a friendster friend. What great wonders network community have for bringing friends back at tab with each other’s life!
But there are only so much you can do with adding a person in your list of friends. Regardless of what network community you use, a friend (in cyberspace, that is) is just a virtual identity where you just so happen to be able to see his/her face and smile for being lost in nostalgia (or complete lack of) while reading his/her profile. You won’t suddenly become close with those people by just looking at their picture in the internet. Good Lord, if that were true, then Angel Locsin would’ve been my best friend now! Heaven knows I have no idea what kind of person Rache is. No, heaven knows I have no idea what more than half of my friendster friends are like (although most of them I have met personally)
So I decided to do something different, and to put it bluntly, it was daring. In one of those days when I felt dreary, I started sending short messages to some of my friends. Most of the message I send are something among the lines of things I write for my blog. There were few who were amused at what I’ve written and Rache was among one of them. She was also among those who retained constant communication with me ever since I first hit the send button. The exchange of messages started until eventually I grow so fond of hearing from her.
It’s hard to believe that just 3 years ago, Rache was someone I can only look at from far away. That is still probably true, but at least I am so happy now that she has become someone who I can constantly send thoughtful messages to or have instant message conversations with. Whenever I see a new message in my inbox that comes from her, I am guaranteed to have a moment of smiling in elation.
I used to think that developing friendship by things you do in the internet is nigh impossible. But Rache has proven me wrong and I’m glad she did. Come and think of it, most people just see internet as a place to have their leisurely walk to a gateway of different sceneries, or maybe get match-maked into someone completely anonymous. Not many have thought of wanting to cultivate friendship with internet acquaintances, especially those done without selfish intentions. With people like Rache, I’m reminded as why there is still beauty left in the internet. I don’t just mean it literally too. She’s the muse who opened my eyes to the new possibilities of the internet and this possibility states that while the internet is commonly known as superhighway, it’s also a ground on which long-time passive friendships becomes active again and acquaintances evolve into friends. All you need to have is a penny for thoughts, an open mind, courteousness, and altruism.
At this point I would also love to mention other people whose friendship I developed in a similar manner as Rache, but I digress. After all, today is World Rache Day! :grins:
