Of Recent Happenings

Lately, one of my good friends lost a pal whom he had just been with 30 minutes before.It ached me when he told me what had transpired but the thing is, I wasn't there for him that instance that he needed a shoulder to cry on.I got enough offline messages pending on my pc and once I read his messages my thrill was turned into something else...not sadness in particular...maybe just empathy.Anyway to say the least, I am still waiting for my friend to contact me again and perharps I will be of some solace.
The whole tragedy got me thinking about the friends I have in my life.I think I have more online friends than I have real -life-physically-present-live-next-door kind of friends.It just happens that some of the people who know the real me have never actually met me physically!Blame it on technology and distance!And although they are 'cyber-friends' I do feel like I actually know them well enough too.There is something that prompts us to share the real 'us' with people who we have hardly met.Maybe its because we feel less vulnerable...when we spill our lifes' content, aches and pains to total strangers, because inertly we know that we wont have to be confronted by the same person the next day when we are more or less "together".
We feel the need to protect ourselves from other people's judgements...especially from those close to us.