It's all about connection

I was running through the blog circuit, checking out to see who had new entries. One of the blogs acknowledged the birthday of a fellow blogger and so, curious, I went to his site. He described how his pastor had died that day from electrocution. I read with horror about a good man who, in an instant of a wrong decision, accidently ended his life. It was sad and tragic.

In the several days following, I saw that story making its way through the internet home pages and news reports. It was in such small spots that if I hadn't known the story, I might not have seen it. It occurred to me that we notice more and feel more if we have some sort of connection to the person, story, or event. Mine was a friend of a friend.

In high school a classmate of mine died. She was not a real close friend but she was someone I talked to a couple times a week and we shared some of what we were thinking. She was killed in a scuba diving accident. What amazed me was how many people claimed her as their good friend after she died. The whole school was her friend.

In that same vein, isn't that we are attempting to do when we name drop. Somehow by knowing someone makes us someone. I met Jack Lord once. These days people say "Who?" His famous line was "Book 'em Danno!" Why is it that groupies will follow after their idols, and pay large fees for autographed memorabilia.

I think we all want to know that we matter and we tend to do it through who we can demonstrate we have had a connection with.