What Does John Tesh Have Against You?

Last night, I was driving my family home after a long evening of waiting. Doc threw his back out and I had taken him to the urgent care center. We spent a better part of three hours reading several months worth of Time Magazine under the blare of a women's basketball game on TV. The kids probably had a good time, though; they were at Grandma and Pop's.

At about 10:30 p.m., we finally were able to head home. I had the radio tuned to WHBC and as we were backing out of my parents' driveway, I heard the soothing tones of John Tesh's voice. We were in time to catch Intelligence for Your Life.

"Excellent!" I said as I turned to smile at Doc. He winced back at me in pain.

As we were maneuvering our way through my parents' allotment, John Tesh began one of his life lessons for our benefit. Do you know what he said? He said that online friends were not as good as "real friends." He said that it was more important to build interpersonal relationships face-to-face. He asserted that after breaking up with someone, it is better for you to cry on a real friend's shoulder rather than to write about it to your "online friends."

First of all, let me just say that I was mightily offended by this on your behalf. I find that my "online friends" are just as valuable to me as my "real friends." Of course, I can't really cry on your shoulders, but then I have antidepressants for that, so who cares, right? Also, you all tend to be way more objective than my "real friends." You guys never soft peddle things. I know exactly where I stand with you. Besides, I never really know what I think about a situation until I write about it. (That is a paraphrased quote from someone famous...which I'm sure some of you can name without hesitation or at least find it quickly on Wikipedia). My online friends? Smart, honest, and resourceful.

And what about my "real friends" who are also my "online friends"? Should I prefer their presence physically rather than digitally? What about those real online friends who live far, far away? I am closer to some of them through our "online" relationship than I was previously. Besides I can't afford to traipse around the country in order to cry on their shoulders. John Tesh, I am not made of money!

Now I do have friends who are real and not online. I have fun with them. I can understand the benefit to socializing face-to-face with them. So, I'm hip to what JT is trying to say, here. Let's not lose our humanity to the likes of MySpace and Blogger. But then, if online communication is so bad, why does he have a blog? Why is he saying things like this:

"Welcome to my blog everybody! I will be writing in every chance I get to let you know what's going on in my life as well as on the radio show. I will be sharing with you news about concerts and some of my favorite bits of intelligence. Check back soon. Thanks for visiting."

Take heed, John Tesh, that you practice what you preach. I don't want to check out your blog and find you bitching about the way Connie folds the towels or crying about how she bought you the lavender bath bomb instead of the rose and vanilla. And don't expect any comments from me. God forbid I should have anything to do with the chipping away of your "humanity," that is if you're really human.