Re: Can you be friends online without ever meeting?

On Dec 6, 1:56 pm, Sherry in Vermont <sherr...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2009-12-06 09:00:56 -0500, Garry the Island Boy <garry...@xxxxxxxxx> said:

This came up . . .  I have many friends from RMGD, but I have actually
met them in RL <real life>, that was the reason for the RMGD
luncheons . . . Joe, Rupert, Walter, Sue, Tim, Mary, Scot, Katrinka,
Sweetbac <funny guy>, JC Martin, Corky, etc the list goes on. Now here
is the issue, can you call someone a friend if you have never met them
in RL, looked them in the eye, and found the real deal. Or can you
refer to someone as a friend who has just sent you some cool tunes?
Perhaps I have a higher standard of "friend" then this other person. A
friend to me is someone I would crawl over broken glass to help, who
has helped me, who I would go bankrupt to bail out of jail or fly
halfway around the world to help. Maybe it is just me . . . . Any
thoughts?

G.

Some of my friends I knew online for many years before meeting in real
life... I think online friends are mostly what used to be called "pen
pals" - people who write one another about various things (collections,
hobbies, etc), often trading (stamps, etc) and never actually meeting
except in rare cases.

In my case, I have made some friends on line whom I most definitely
consider real friends, and I would help them if they needed it. But
perhaps not to the same extent as, say, my friend of 27 yrs in real
life. Though... some of my real life friends moved so far away that
they have been pretty much pen pals until the internet - now it's the
same, only online. I used to send paper photos, now we share on the
computer. I haven't seen some of them in a dozen or more years... yet,
we still are friends.

Most of my friends, we just kinda take up where we left off last time -
no awkwardness, just happy to see one another. Just saw a real life
friend last night - I haven't seen him in 2 years and damn I missed
hiim! He tends to disappear and reappear for years at a time.

I don't think it's a "new" thing - just a new medium for making
friends. Pen pals taken one step higher?

Sherry in Vermont

Joker said it well, it really is a personal thing.
You and I, Sherry, have a friend in common who I
haven't met yet, but I feel close to the person.
As Garry put it, I'd crawl over glass to save him.
He may not feel that same way about me, but I trust
him completely and think he's one of the top 10 best
human beings I've ever known.
I don't quite equate that with a "pen pal", but see,
I'm far away from *everybody*.....I don't go to bars
and haven't lived here long enough to have more than a
couple of good trusted friends in "real life."
My family is all far away.
I trust my gut feelings about folks, usually.
But the way I feel about it is just part of who I am.
I learned that the hard way when I freaked out
people who I expressed friendship with, as they have
different personalities and stuff.
But unless you're dead, who knows who you might become
friends with online or meet in person after getting to know
online?
.

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