Tonight I had three long conversations with family and friends by phone. I get many calls but they usually are short. These conversations were personal and a sharing of feelings and thought with persons on a wide range of subjects. It was time away from other pursuits but time worth spending. Again it demonstrated to me how personal phone conversations can be over emails. On the phone, as in person, words are not frozen and can be explained or re-framed for a better understanding.

Emails are good for communication of articles and information but they are not flexible for true understanding. A good example is an email conversation I am having with a friend about ‘opinion’ and ‘truth’. He mistook a quote I gave him from Dorothy Day to say the opposite of what I was trying to communicate. I can write back clarifying my thoughts but without a personal conversation, person to person, or via phone things are likely to become more confused.

To practice what I preach I should slow down on the emails I write with opinions, morals, values or statements. Without the flexibility of speech emails can be more confusing. People do not want to hear about racism, spending money for the poor or teaching war in person or by phone let alone by email. The time I spend writing emails perhaps should be spent writing articles that I can publish on my web page or someone else. Articles, based on research and history, might not get read but allow more space and words for an understanding of what I need to say. People may not read the articles but at least I will be satisfied of having said what I may feel a need to say, without having a personal conversation in person or by phone with everyone. Yet, spoken words are best.

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