The Cut

Making the cut.   It’s a phrase that’s used in a number of different types of cases where candidates of some sort go through a screening process where in some are retained and others discarded.    If you think about it,  the friends in your life right now are likely a selection of people who have made it through various cuts over the years.

I have been making and keeping friends online for a long, long time now and the fact that some of these people have known me all this time  (and are still willing to call themselves my friend) makes me stop and think.   Not just talking online, but talking totals here,  my life before I went online and my friends both face to face and virtual ever since,  I’ve come to realize that more often than not friendships that were based on sex very very rarely last for very long,  although that the relationship is sexual does not preclude it being long term.   Relationships that are mostly based on a common interest,  usually only last so long as both friends continue to be active in the interest that drew them together in the first place.    Relationships that are based on the fact that you genuinely like and care for someone are the ones that seem to endure.

In the end the vast majority of the people who make the cut with me are people whom I genuinely like and care about.   I never dismiss the importance of venue,  and when a web site or other tool goes away it is not that uncommon to lose touch with friends whom you mostly kept off with on the site neither of you use anymore.   It’s also not uncommon to reconnect (these days on Facebook) with someone you haven’t spoken with in many years but whom you are proud to still call a friend.    And really mean it.   And not just in the Facebook sense.

And finally today,  a shout out to two of the most awesome  photographers I know– Ryan J Zeigler whose photograph is shown above,  in addition to being an incredible photographer and having a day job he rarely talks about,  is something of an Empire Avenue expert who blogs at roisucks.wordpress.com and can often be found hanging out with lots of other sharp, witty people on G Plus and Facebook.    And my good friend Henry Plumley who figured out how to prioritize and maximize his social media effectiveness faster than any other newbie I’ve ever scene.    A chat with Hank on Facebook was the impetus for this post.  And just by the way– Ryan’s photo was the #1 Google image result for the search phrase  “The Cut”.    That’s why I selected it.