Fete Accompli, Fayre Game

I've just finished the book "A Fete Worse Than Death". I found it to be a humourous social commentary of the Jubilee summer, but can't shake the feeling of being disturbed by the country it describes. I've no doubt that the social divisions in Britain, and in England in particular, are very noticeable, but what disturbs me most is the way the author describes two groups, the haves and the have-nots. There has always been a rich and a poor, but in the book there is so little interaction between the two that either could be forgiven for failing to recognise the existence of the other at all, they appear to exist in total isolation to each other. One group strives to protect the status quo, the established order, tradition, the other sees no value in any of these, and rejects it all. There is no common ground.
I have bad memories of the playground, "are you my friend or theirs? you can't be both, choose", and I hate the culture of cliques, where you no longer have a relationship with an individual, purely one with the group identity. And yet..
There are two photos of me which are treasured, and both are of groups of friends sharing happy times. What makes them different is that they are not groups with an identity, but groups with a purpose, hands joined together but facing out of, not into, the circle, reaching out to others not excluding them.

First Life Eternal

"nothing, absolutely nothing, can replace looking someone in the eye"

In these days of artificial intelligence and global communications it is rare to speak to someone and look them in the eye, how many more times do we say "Email me", or "Send me a text", unaware of the amount of information we will not be sending. There has been a growing trend of "internet relationships", the internet can bring the world to your fingertips, so why not personal contact too?
There is still a section of society wary of any electronic communication, but are they so wrong to look with suspicion at stories of love (or indeed whole lives) online?
I've tasted online life, and found it tempting. You can create your avatar to suit your own desires, you can live free of weakness, free of fear, free of suspicion. There are good things in the immediacy of finding other people in a lonely world, but there are dangers too. Just as you can choose how you wish others to perceive you, so they can lie, deceive, mislead, and ultimately hurt you.
There was a story this week of a couple divorcing, over infidelity on Second Life. The cause was perhaps addiction, temptation, the feeling that this infidelity could never be unearthed by the partner. Presumably the act of infidelity, even online, was a source of pleasure, of satisfaction, maybe even personal contact, but in involving someone other than this individual's committed partner, however unsubstantial the act was it has caused a deep wound.
Doubtless there are places where this could have happened outside Second Life, but could it have happened with so little consideration for the consequences?
What worries me mostly is that the wronged partner has now found another love through online gaming, and my concern is that this person lacks the confidence to step out from behind the avatar, and could find that to others the game is just that.
There is no substitute for looking someone in the eye, hearing their words, and seeing their thoughts made manifest, and any electronic communication must serve as a prelude to this, never as a replacement. And we must look within ourselves, beyond our avatar, and ask for the courage to face up to what we are and improve.