We were created in the image of God [Genesis 1:27 - one of my favorite verses]. I believe that means not physically, but our soul, spirit, character, personality all are created by Him and from His own self. And just as our Creator desires to have fellowship with us, He also desires that we have fellowship with each other. He confirms this in Matthew 18:20 when He tells us that if two or more people gather in His name, He will be there with them. That's fellowship.
In my studies of ASL and the Deaf over the last year or so, I have become increasingly fond of their culture. Yes, Deaf people (I must emphasize the capitalization of Deaf, it being different from deaf - meaning people who cannot hear.) have their own culture and their own set of social rules. Because Deaf people use American Sign Language as their primary language, they get together often just to sit and chat in surprisingly large groups. Because technology is improving it is becoming easier for them to talk via the internet with webcams and such, but what they have maintained is their willingness to get together in person and talk about nothing in particular.
I am becoming saddened at how AIM, Facebook, Myspace, texting, email, etc. has rid our society of the simple and joyous life of sending letters, talking on the phone, or even *gasp* seeing one another. These days most of our conversations are had or begun via text. While there are appropriate and even necessary times for text, is does not compare to the inflection that you hear in someone's voice via the phone or the gestures that you see when you talk to someone face to face.
While I am aware that the Deaf culture calls for face-to-face interaction more strongly than our hearing culture, I believe that we should work harder to sit and talk to each other and re-learn the starkly beautiful art that is simple conversation.
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