Refugee Part Two

Refugee part 2

I never thought I would become refugee again. But it has happened.

When I discovered G+ it was a very new social platform. I found company there when I had none in real life. 

I was a real life refugee when I joined G+ many years ago. I was happy to find something stable in my existence; and those I met there helped me through very dark and traumatic times. I am on my fifth house move since 2004, since becoming a refugee. However I was always on G+. No matter what my physical address was I had a place where everyone knew me and I knew them. People who cared about me and I cared about them. I could be intimate taking about my problems, illnesses, fears…my daily ups and downs. I was buoyed by my cyber friends. Moreover I buoyed my cycler friends through their struggles, too. We found each other across the globe! I have lost several dear ones and was grateful for their relatives to post that they had died suddenly so the worries could become the grief and the fond memories. As in “real” life people die here. However here on our G+ when we move we can still be friends. We can still depend on each others humor and concern and advice and snark attacks to make us laugh when we are weeping in the dim light in front of our computers..alone but not abandoned.

I left much behind me each time I moved.  Each time I landed in a new town I tried to fit in, or to at least be friendly and meet people. When one is new to a community it is hard to break through the barrier of static being. People who have not had to move from pillar to post have created their rich, full lives; making room for an outsider is not easy and most times not welcome.  A new person also is needy and may try too hard ….no one likes that either. Then age catches up and I found people in my age group were grandparents stable in their lives full of their grandees. Not much in common. I learned the hard way when one is being snubbed after a delightful chat with a new person and saying oh we must get together for coffee soon…their reply was “I don’t drink coffee”  BAM…you know that this chance meeting is not the thing…how do I meet others for just a chat and visit? No idea in these 18 years as being an other, an outsider…no idea how to go about meeting real life people. So the Social Media Platforms were a way to be social to connect with other humans on a personal level….we may not be in the same country or time zone but we have similar interests and can chat about stuff…..over my cup of tea and their beer since they are in the evening and I am in the morning…

Not anymore! G+ has abandoned their platform not caring about the human beings who populated that universe. We are all abandoned to the wind…each looking for another place to hang our hat…not wanting to lose each other! There are dozens of social media platforms some nicer than others each with attitudes or being so different it is hard to fit in anywhere. I know that feeling in real life as I am in my fifth home, a new area/state/country in 14 years, hoping this is the final one since I am growing older and tired of packing and moving and losing stuff.

Losing people.