On social networking sites, I chat with people
from around the world; and I learn.

Yet I often think that what I learn most about
is not faraway persons that differ from me in
culture, age, sex, profession . . .

No, I think that what I learn most about is ME;
plain old me, from right here.



I say this because sometimes it seems that
I am like a monkey looking into a mirror;

thinking that I am seeing another, but sensing
that I am only seeing a reflection of myself;

a reflection of:

what I assume about people and

what I wish they would be.


These assumptions and wishes are aspects
of me that I have little knowledge of, and 
that I continue to discover.

So when I chat with you, it's likely that in my
mind's eye, I am not seeing you, for who you
are; but rather, I am only seeing me.