Realizing Our Potential As Humans: A Moment With Bill Reflection

I called, Billy, but your mailbox is full.

Lol, no Texan here. However, being my daughter was born there, she has Texas birthrights. Yes, I grew up in the same state that our dear and sweet friend Maria did. I love the Texans though! Have a great day too!

Hehe ...I am not from Texas. However, we did live out there for two years when my husband was in the Air Force. I grew up in Georgia, so I am a Georgia peach lol. Now, after my husband had gotten out of the Air Force, we returned to where his family is from here in southern USA, one state over from where I grew up. Glad you like my southern accent though. Now, those Texans really have a good drawl. Have a blessed day and now it is time to read what you have going on this day for us! Blessings, Faith Reaper

I remember the days when neighbors leaned on the backyard fence and talked about the day's events. It was a time when children played just a few feet away while the grownups talked, dad read the paper on the front porch while waving at everyone who passsed by the house. I try to keep this alive in our neighborhood. What a wonderful encouragement your article is to me today. I am getting ready to travel so my time is limited, but upon return I will surprise you with a quick phone call. Say hello to Bev for me.

Glad to know you are extending the challenge Bill. You know me well enough to know that I will call. Funny, I've been thinking of calling you anyhow just to hear the voice behind the man :) The thing I loved most while living in Hawaii is the way a hug is a constant way of greeting. True aloha! I hug anything that won't move :) Fantastic hub, dear Bill. And here's a big, warm one from me!

Oh, it was all my pleasure dear heart. I hope the rest of your day was lovely.

Blessings,

Faith Reaper

Great hub, bill, about the facts of life.

What???!!! Was the challenge for one day only?? We could only call yesterday? OMG...Crazy Ole Bill posted his phone number.......I voted more than 5 would call you. By the looks of the comments, I see it may have been more than 5.

Are you 3 hours behind EST? What a great idea bro...I'm surprise-calling you when you LEAST expect it!

About your hub.....I comment about this very thing at least once a day, bill. No more personal one on one.....very little face time between friends....I'm not crazy about this. I long for the good old days every now and then.

Hugs & kisses and touchy-feely? 50% Italian blood = 100% affectionate, demonstrative people. My other 50% (Dad) Ukranian, was just as lovey-dovey. As a youngster, I remember thinking that families who didn't fall over each other on every occasion, just didn't like each other...LOL!

This is a really great hub, bill....sounds like you had some fun!! UP+++

I can only think when reading this about a news report of a woman on her smartphone and how she falls off the platform and on to the train tracks. I imagine someone could have said something to her or more she could have watched herself and taken part in a conversation. Great piece billy.

So lovely to speak with you dear Bill aka "The proprietor of Yardbird Nirvana". It made my lunch so much nicer! Hugs and much love, Faith Reaper!

Friend Bill, great talking to you. I’m glad you posted your phone number. Warm hugs to you!

You are so lucky to have such a childhood. I wasn’t around my mother’s family much growing up, but as an adult I realize what a cold unaffectionate family they are. I can’t remember the last time my late mother spontaneously hugged me. Apparently she stopped after my brother and sister were born. The women in my Dad’s family were huggers, though, even if the men weren’t. I don’t know why men were taught that showing affection wasn’t manly, but I think that was why. It was the 1960s and after that men were allowed to hug and cry.

I miss the wonderful friendly neighborhoods of yesteryear. Our neighborhood is cold and unfriendly, and even attempts to form a neighborhood watch and get acquainted with each other failed. This is our 20th year to live there.

On another note, I visited Seattle seven or eight years ago and found the folks to be very friendly people who looked me in the eye and helloed. I hope the city is still that friendly. Five years ago I visited Philadelphia and was warned by the natives not to look anyone in the eye while walking down the street. Being a southerner, my friend and I didn’t heed their warning the first day. We found out why. Every time we looked someone in the eye and spoke, we were accosted by that person begging for money. After that we followed the natives’ advice. That was a pity and certainly out of context for a couple of southern belles. The times they are a changin’. As you mention, these are scary times, and some of it we are bringing on ourselves.

Hi Billy and as always a great hub ;I voted for more than 5 calls but do not have enough credit on my cell phone to ring you today I am afraid ; but what a great idea it would be to for another day in the very near future. I am a very chatty and open person and not a day goes by when I don't stop to chat with someone or hug and kiss those I love. I am a day late reading this because yesterday I had to visit the doctor's having had many sleepless nights due to my bad back. They were very slow in the doctor's and I was nearly tow hours late going in .A very tedious and weary time many would say. However I got talking to another lady whose appointment was just before mine and we found out that we both work with youngsters with special needs and we only lived four miles apart.We exchanged phone numbers so need I say more...........Thank you for another gem and here's another to vote up. Here's wishing you a wonderful day and lots of love from Wales.

Eddy..

I missed this yesterday....I really related to how people do not make eye contact anymore.. too busy texting, cellphone talking etc. I almost always give a friend a hug upon seeing them--both male and female. There are a few you don't. I only use my cellphone for specifics and get off. Of course I am not a telephone person and find it wasteful for chitter chatter..However I love getting together with friends and sharing and talking. Interesting Hub and makes you realize what has happened to our society and YOU are right when you say laws made by politicians are hardly worth the paper.

Another issue are some of the scary kids out there hurting others and often not paying for their acts. WHat causes them to be so cruel????

Lack of communication is the root cause for many misunderstanding you have with others. billy, you are right when you say people just float through their lives as if others were non existent. They are ready to demonstrate their anger and frustration, but sadly not their care and love.

Dear Bill,

Just started a class with 18 nurses and last evening there was a general agreement that the single thing patients wanted more than any procedure, information, treatment was the nurse's time and human contact/ touch -- holding a hand, giving a backrub, our simple presence...

I am not at all surprised you are a hugger.... me too! Look, here's one now...HUGS and Love, Maria

Again as always a terrific post. That is why i smile at strangers in the street. Just to say, have a good day. I'm not at my pc and have been away from the office where i type my hubs from, so i will see if it's true that people do not see me in the street after i have shared this post around.

Great hub Bill. You have touched on a big problem with society today.... Personal communication, or lack thereof. I voted for +5 and glad I was right. I think my family and old friends see Kathy and I as having become hermits since we moved "bush", and are a 40 minute drive from the nearest town. We have a son in Kingaroy the closest large town and see him and his family about once per fortnight, and we have a few friends out here about 10 kilometres away. Rarely do we get visits from past friends or extended family however, unless they have to pass this way for some other reason. We don't even have cell phone reception here, so it is only when we go to town that we can use them. My last cell phone bill I think I had made $2 worth if calls. Luckily we enjoy each other's company and have the computers for interaction through Facebook, Hub Pages etc. thanks for writing this hub, and if you get a phone call at around 3am it may be me...lol...just joking... I wouldn't do that to you.

Hi, Bill. I just phoned you but got a message that your mailbox is full. Hopefully that means that lots of people are calling you! Thanks for the offer to connect. You've made some very important points about personal communication in this hub.

Gosh, Dear Bill, the day you go and conduct a human experiment, ironically, I was out connecting face-to-face humanly. LOL I usually try to read a couple of hubs on my lunch hour, but today, I met my son for lunch, who happens to work in the city in which I work too. We meet for lunch at least once a week. Then I had to leave work early for a dentist appointment : ( ... I am not too fond of those type human connections, but they are necessary lol. It is now 11:11 p.m. here, and I am just now checking in on HP! So, I had a full day of human contact, but if your experiment has not concluded, I will try to call you on my lunch hour tomorrow, as my husband may look at me funny if I call another man at this late hour lol. However, I know it may not be as late there.

I just love living in this small town, as there is nothing but connections being made. Even when one goes to the post office, the person behind the desk will ask all how their family member is doing, and she knows them by name and they will chat a bit, and all are just fine waiting in line for the chats to end. You do not see that in happening in the big cities of course, but they do not personally know everyone in the city either.

I try to make eye contact and smile at all with whom I come into contact, whether in the elevator or the homeless person on the corner.

I will share by tweeting and pinning as usual, but I do hope you do not receive strange calls by me doing so!

Have a lovely evening, and I am sorry to be so late in getting on the computer this day, although I was making real human connections! Hooray!

Blessings,

Faith Reaper

I bet you got more of a response than you expected... I did call you, but could not leave a message since your mailbox was full..

Interesting concept. I have a smart phone and I use it often, but I try not to use it during interactions with others unless I am expecting an important call or a family member is ill...

The thing that really struck me over the last few years is not so much that people use smart phones all of the time, but rather that they will actually answer a call with their Bluetooth without even letting the person they are with know they are answering a call and not still talking to you.. I can not tell you how many times I was in a conversation with someone when they suddenly started talking about something else and it would take me a minute to realize they were no longer talking to me.. I have to say I find it to be a very rude habit..

It used to be if you saw someone walking down the street talking to themselves you assumed they had a mental disorder.. Now we are more likely to assume they have a Bluetooth and are on their phone..

I promise we will meet you and Bev some day. God bless and thank you so much for your very, very kind words, Sparklea :)

Hi billybuc...just getting online, not home all day. I sent you a note earlier from Barnes & Noble on your great 'artistry' site...Voted up and awesome ....LOVE what you share here, especially about the lack of eye contact and the cell phone obsession running rampant in the universe.

I was home from B & N at least 5 - 6 hours with my cell in my purse, forgot all about it...what is tragic is the obsession kids from WAY young into the teens have about their cell phones.

Hurrah for Shailene Woodley, kudos to her! I am reading the book Divergent and plan to see the movie. I wrote down your phone number!

What is the time difference between Olympia Washington and New York State. For example when it is noon here, it is 9 a.m. in California a 3 hour time difference...

I have no idea what time it is now where you live. It is late and I'm off to bed shortly, but I WILL call you at some point...I will be out of town all day tomorrow, but I love your asking people to call. YOU ARE SO IMPORTANT to me and many, many others!

This is a most wonderful hub, and I So wish I lived close by so I could attend your upcoming class! I am losing out! God bless, Sparklea :)

I was looking at some photos posted on Facebook of a fun event I attended recently, an annual "bar to bar" 5k race before St. Patrick's Day. Thousands participated. What struck me in all of these candid photos from the event was seeing at least one person (and usually more) staring at their phones in every single one of those photos. Shameful, really.

Hi. Indeed, one drawback with today's " communication revolution" is that it has become "depersonalized" and "dehumanized". If we are in a group, we can be communicating with someone else somewhere around the world and not paying attention to the one who is with us. Great hub. I really enjoyed reading this.

Living out here in the country has been different than living in the city. Out here, people connect in the most precious ways. I remember being in the fabric softener isle recently and a lady, along with two other ladies were pondering which scent they liked best. As I stood there waiting for them to get out of my way, the one lady held up the pink fabric softener box to my nose and asked if I liked it. I said yes, it smells really nice. Then, she held up the purple fabric softener box and asked for my opinion about that, too. I told her I liked the pink one better. Then she turned to the other ladies who were all nodding in agreement. It was a moment at the grocery store that I will remember forever and after that little exchange, whenever we passed each other in the isles we smiled at each other. It was like we had some kind of bond, each of us with our pink fabric softener boxes. I liked that.

I'm excited too! Can't wait to see how many calls you get! Have a super evening. Make sure the sun comes out this weekend :)

I was thinking about what you wrote, this morning, about taking risks in our writing. You offered the suggestion of daring to use similes and metaphors in our writing. I took the risk, and wrote this line into my Hub: "The snow was softly falling, and the Sierras stood all around me like giant fortresses, waiting to be conquered. "

Thank you for your challenge, it made my writing powerful.

Wow.. everything you've written here is true, and a sad reflection on life in the 21st century. You and Bev are incredible human beings, you are both generous and so very accommodating. I should have known you would pull something like this. :) Some challenge!!...Now that I have your number I'll just need some time to work up a little courage, I have to agree with Ann, although we've come a long way, the folks on the other side of the pond tends to be somewhat reserved. However; I will call, probably when your line isn't so busy, (yes.. my nose is growing longer by the minute). Seriously; there are some very special people here on HP that I would love to get to know better, you and Bev are top of the list. Take care and my best to you.

Bill - very interesting hub, as always. It definitely made me stop and think. Even though I love its convenience, I think technology has assisted in the dehumanization process as well. (I am also guilty as I find that I am always texting and rarely pick up the phone to actually talk). It is sad to watch people become...and stay strangers. I think everyone is also so busy these days- and social media sites have become the new norm, while old-fashioned networking is a thing of the past, sadly!

OK!! I am driving up on Saturday. What time works best for you both on Sunday? Guess what.... I will call you now! :)

I can remember sitting on my front porch with my mother and the whole neighborhood would come over and just talk about the day, now if my doorbell rings it startles me. What a shame that is. I live about forty miles from Evansville, In., there is a murder everyday there, plus robbery. I remember as a child going to Evansville was a treat, no fear whatsoever. My sister Mary lives there and she keeps her doors locked and bolted . I live in a small town, very little crime, mostly kids vandalizing. I guess you can see that i long for the good ole days when we never locked our doors. Great hub Bill..

It was really cool and comforting to speak with you on the phone.

I really appreciate you, your writings. And I hope for more sunny than rainy days. Blessings & hugs~ :-)

Up, shared & first tweet in about a week. :-)

Another great hub, and I love this follow-up from one of your recent blog posts! I love the fact that I got to meet you and Bev in person a few years ago and guess what..... I will be in Olympia this coming Sunday through Tuesday to help with my parents' yard work. Coffee date?! I will call you to arrange!

I would call right now, but I do have to hop in the car to take kids to sports practices. I am going to hold myself to my promise, however!! Talk soon! :)

Hello, here I am again doing the Charles Atlas thing, propping up all the early birds...

I started off living in a small town near the Dorman Long steel works at Grangetown near Middlesbrough (the fastest-growing town in Europe), where most people knew one another. My Grandad was well-known and didn't hide from people, having been a country lad. He had a broad customer base for his chickens and vegetables that he sold from his two allotments (two, mate, most men could just about keep one going);

we moved to a slightly bigger town, Eston, a mile and a half to the south in the lee of the escarpment that grew from a small village with ironstone mining - most there on our estate and further knew one another as well;

I went to Scarborough Art School at fifteen. Scarborough extends further, although without high-rise, and you could walk around without being acknowledged. That was the beginnings of 'anonymity', although at college I knew and was known by many;

after that I spent a few years in Vienna. I didn't exist there but for those I worked with;

on to Nottingham, bigger than Vienna? I'd say as big, and same as Vienna with respect to social niceties, and don't look at the girls or you'll get a 'bunch of fives' dealt out;

now I'm in London. I know a fair number of people, have known more with working and union involvement 'in the Print' in Fleet Street, and at Royal Mail over the years and know more from working at Lord's Cricket Ground over a few seasons. But you could shrivel up if you weren't 'outward'. I'd say starting small is better, but it doesn't have to progress to bigger. The wife being London born and-bred doesn't really appreciate the jump in social change from small (and I mean SMALL) town to big city. She doesn't mind going to smaller communities, but wouldn't like to live there. Me, I hanker after small town life again, or even village life.

I've seen the things you mentioned and you're correct - it seems to be getting worse because people have become very distrustful. For me, I love the interaction among people I know. The problem is that I'm very shy at first so it takes me a little longer to buck up the courage to talk to someone for the first time. I ask myself, "Should I call him or not? What would I say?" That's shyness, not a total lack of trust.

For my college sociology course, one exercise was to do the unexpected. Make eye contact with people on the street, get on the elevator and face the back instead of facing the door, etc. I id those things and learned it really freaks people out. You hello to a complete stranger and they think you're up to something. It's all silly. So what does that mean? I should do the unexpected. Maybe you will get that phone call.

Great article. I see your point.

What an idea you provide here -- calling another Hubber!?! Please keep us posted on how many calls you get.

Outstanding thoughts worth pondering. The convergence of ideas from disparate sources has incredible impact, quite often, if we but give them a chance.

Would love to share a big hug, one day! ;-)

I enjoyed our phone conversation Bill. I hope to meet you in person one day.

Bill - Perhaps part of the anti-social change came about over time after all the insane asylums were closed. There are now dangerous type people roaming our streets just waiting for someone to look at them in what they perceive as a negative way. I would imagine many of the smaller towns are still user friendly, but that is mostly history in the cities.

Bill - I just tried to call you but you didn't answer and your mailbox is full. Perhaps you are getting more calls than you thought you would?

Bill, you are absolutely right that touch plays an important role in knowing a person. Everybody knows about the power of touch whether it is sexual or non-sexual. Both are important in understanding the attitude of a person. When a person shakes hands with you or gives you a hug, it indicates that the person is amiable, intimate and friendly. Great hub!

billybuc - your comment about dehumanization stemming from fear caught my attention. Like you, I don't have any scientific data to back my beliefs. It is my feeling that horrible events have not increased--the only thing that has changed is our access to information which gives the illusion that all of society is going to Hell in a hand basket. Immediate knowledge of everything that is happening in all corners of your city/state/country/world is not necessarily a good thing. It exacerbates our negative feelings, our fears. Once we start to disconnect, maybe we will be able to re-connect.

Well I was number two and just got off the phone with Bill! Go ahead and call him....as you might guess from reading his Hubs...Bill is a very warm person! Great talking to you Bill and keep on doing your bit to make the world a better place!

Wonderful!

I am happy and delighted to say that I just got off the phone with you and it was a thrill. This is a very important piece of writing and I would love to see a follow-up to your experiment. Up, all the way!

"If we are to right the wrongs in society then it must happen at a community level." These modern gadgets have us reaching outward, which is not wrong; but they help us neglect those within our immediate circle and we miss out on sharing the love. This is a great article. Thank you.