Sunday, November 1, 2015

Can You See Me?


"Can you hear me now? Is that better? Hello? Sorry if you can't hear me very well. I'm on my watch."

I heard those words yesterday at the Apple store. I was at the "timeout table" waiting for a cell phone repair appointment. The lady next to me was talking into her watch like Dick Tracy--shouting into the face and then holding it up to her ear. I wasn't quite sure if she was trying to hear or be heard. Probably both. Either way, it didn't appear to be going well. I chuckled when she said the words "I'm on my watch." Made me feel like I was propelled two hundred years into the future and had arrived here in my hover craft. OK, so maybe this is just the way things are in 2015 and I am behind the times--still blasting 80's music on SiriusXM, pretty proud of my iPhone 6+ but not really aware of all its space age features. Oh well. I am not sure I want to talk into my phone anyway. But that just probably sounds like "Sour grapes." Or should I say, "Bitter apples"? I wonder how long it will be before a watch comes out where we will be able to see the face of the person on the other end?
Bottom line this woman was trying to communicate. She was trying to be heard. Connect. Whether on a watch or an iPhone or in a face to face meeting, we are all trying to do the same thing.

I run with a team and at practice this morning one of my teammates made a comment about how troubled youth just want someone to "see them." I thought it was a beautiful way to express what I have learned over many years of working with high risk kids. I couldn't agree more. "They want you to see them" is a beautiful way of saying they want you to acknowledge them, talk to them like they matter and make them feel like they do
Isn't that true for all of us?
We all want to be seen. And when we're not, we want to be missed. It is why we get up in the morning--to see the people who see us. And by 'see', I mean much more than vision. I mean connection. We want someone to notice us in a way that matters--in a way that makes us feel like we belong, we are loved and this meeting, program, office, club, team, family or world wouldn't be the same without us.
If we have people who make us feel this way, or even one person who makes us feel this way--we are blessed. I try to be someone who 'sees' people - sees their value and points it out. It's easy to get busy, to get distracted, to take people for granted and not really see them. I pray that my vision sharpens so I can truly 'see' the people around me. Maybe I can't see them on a fancy watch yet, but I can see them.
Who will you see today?

-Hope A. Horner
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