Connections

Me and Sheila Jeffries at Glastonbury Abbey

Photographer - really friendly but name unknown...

September 2015.

One of the greatest things that has happened in my lifetime is the ability to connect with people around the world via social media.

On this trip to the UK, Sheila and I created the opportunity to connect. I have "known" Sheila through Twitter for approximately 3 years and one of my main goals on this trip was to be able to meet her in person. 

It would be natural to be somewhat nervous with one another when meeting in our physical embodiment for the first time but we were quite at ease. For my part, it is not hard to be at ease with Sheila as, aside from being a brilliant writer and visual artist, she is one of the kindest, most sincere, people I have ever met. 

Please take a few moments to enjoy her website for information on her books and the projects she has undertaken in her life to date - not the least of which is planting an entire forest with her husband, Ted, in Cornwall in the south of England. 

Also, I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to visit two wonderful twitter / blog friends in West Cork: April Danann @DanannSpl4ces and Trich Deeney @TrichDee. Sadly, this adventure will need to wait for my next visit, but I am eternally grateful that they welcome me to their land and their lives. 

Before coming here, I planned the trip with my cousin through Facebook Messenger and after 32 years of physical distance (though our hearts and souls are never separated), we have developed a wonderfully comfortable way of being with one another in person. 

Without social media, it would be far more difficult to be in contact and maintain relationships with my friends overseas and my family.

I feel these are fine examples of our lives being what we make of them. There is no question that people do use social media to spew vitriolic, unkind hate speak because of anger and fear, but there are as many examples of acts of loving kindness through this form. Find these people, the ones sharing their love and kindness, and share with them. Let the warmth radiate through time and space. This will create a beautiful example and legacy. I am astounded by the potential of these powerful tools of technology when they are used for well-being.

Use your social media powers for good. Use them to put forth your thoughts with as much truth and kindness as you are able. Let your ripple effect embrace others with loving kindness. Even when you disagree, try to express your opinion from a place of love and kindness. 

I find it wonderful to use these tools to come together across the world. I have met many of the people I know back in Victoria, British Columbia through social media. I use it to maintain relationships I have built with those I cannot see often because of distance or heavy travel schedules. I love to use it when I am travelling - to share my experiences with my circles. 

I know it can be used frivolously and it can be a massive time suck, but I feel it is up to me to manage that possibility.

Anyway, nothing earth-shattering or brilliant here - just my gratitude for the potential and a reminder of the gifts many of us have at our fingertips and the possibility to do good through sharing through these tools - tools which many people do not have because of poverty and accessibility. 

I am aware of the privilege of having the devices used to share with people in this way and hope that we can get technology into the hands of those who do not have it for, perhaps, through connection we can balance the scales a bit, share what we have with others and open our hearts to the ways and means of distant friends.

I am grateful to each of you who read these posts and to each of you who choose to reach out through social media with a good heart, with love and kindness. I am grateful for the opportunity to have met some of you in person, on this journey and others, and I look forward to the many relationships ahead as each one teaches me and enriches me on my path. May I be fortunate enough to bring as much to you.

In gratitude,

-Gillian Cornwall, c. September 27, 2015

Big Ben - Reminder that there is time,

time to reach out to one another with a good heart

Gillian Cornwall, c. September 25, 2015

Hands Around the World

 

Toward the Olympic Range

Gillian Cornwall c. 2011

It really works. I probably shouldn't be surprised. I have made connections all over the world through new media, but this past week it has really hit home. Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, whatever your sharing tool of choice, it works. It brings hands together around the world. 

I do realize that the paragraph above is not ground-breaking information, but sometimes it's hard to know if the content is received at all or received well. It is easy to produce content (harder to produce good content) but difficult to know how widely and positively it is being received, understood and appreciated. Yes, we have analytics to measure reach and make some fact-based assessment of readership but that doesn't always give us the kind of feedback we desire. 

There is nothing that boosts a writer's spirit more than contact with one's readers, through comment, email or direct message. Even if that contact is a challenge, it's great to know that you are engaging with people - some who you know in real life and some you are meeting in cyber-space for the first time. 

Back on November 10, 2013 - just before Remembrance Day - I published a post entitled, Love and Molecules - Lest We Forget. It is the synopsis of the story of my mother's participation in the Second World War and her love of a pilot by the name of Richard N. Foster.

I won't tell the story again here. I'll let you have a look at that in your own time through the link in the previous paragraph. I had researched quite heavily into my mum's service at RAF Base Biggin Hill and into Richard's service in the British Air Force. It was difficult to find fact-based information and I am ever so grateful to all the people in the UK and France who dedicate all of their time outside of their day jobs to ensure those who served are remembered for their sacrifice. It is those people with whom I initially had contact for this project - sometimes they found me and sometimes I found them - reinforcing the impact of new media and the world as it exists with internet connectivity. 

The next aspect of engagement with this project was the response to that post back in 2013. I was astounded by the number of hits it received and by the heartfelt feedback. I had always hoped that I had the facts right and was doing justice to my mother's and Richard's past. 

Last week, the most phenomenal thing happened with respect to that post. Richard's nephew found it (and other sites to which I had added information) by Google searching "RN Foster" and he contacted me by email! I had no idea there were any living relatives to find. My searches in this regard had not come to fruition. Imagine my surprise, after my initial reaction thinking it was likely all spam and almost ignoring the emails and comments. It took a call from Richard's niece, before I could accept - they are real! They are descendants of one of Richard's siblings! I won't release their names as I haven't their permission but, suffice to say, there are 3 family members in total who contacted me in the past week. As if that weren't enough, Richard's niece lives a 30 minute drive from me and we had lunch together this past week and shared photos and stories! Uncanny! She knew my mother as well ("I called her Auntie Eunice"). She has Richard's smile.

All of this has brought me closer to Richard's and my mother's lives and verified everything I thought to be true about their relationship. Had he lived, everyone expected he and my mother would have married and I either wouldn't be here or I would be here in a different embodiment of myself! I wonder how different their lives would have been. It's mind-boggling to think of the possibilities and to think of how many lives, full of promise, were taken so early as a result of that war. We must never forget. 

Had I not written that piece, with the goal of honouring my mother, Richard, their service, and her lifelong commitment to her love for him - despite his physical absence and despite her marriage to my father which resulted in four children before their divorce - I never would have had this opportunity to continue this story and develop this bond with Richard's family. I feel somewhat inarticulate in describing it here; I am still absorbing the uniqueness of this opportunity. 

Reach out. Use your social media accounts to share your stories. Reach out, because you never know who has their ear to the ground, half way around the world, listening for your heartbeat across the sea, across time. You may never know the impact that acknowledging a tweet or commenting on something shared means to someone. Use these tools for good. Use these tools to reach out around the world in loving thought and action. 

I dedicate this post to Richard's family - who I feel are, in some way, my newly found family. Thank you for your interest and persistence and for helping me to remember why I do this and why I believe in the power of the internet and new media to heal the wounds to our world. 

With love to each of you.

-Gillian Cornwall, c. February 22, 2015.

Eunice Jay

Richard Foster

Flying Officer, Richard N Foster
Rest in Peace, Guidel Communal Cemetery
Morbihan, France
Picture taken by: Alain Octavie