I took my boys to see the new Cinderella movie this afternoon. It was their idea. There aren’t a lot of choices in the theaters these days and they really wanted to experience the new theater in the area. My boys are good sports and like movies in general.

I liked the movie. The scenery was beautiful, it wasn’t a musical, and I’m pretty sure “Bellatrix” was the fairy godmother. I admit to tearing up in parts and laughing out loud in others. It is amazing to me that people still buy into the whole “Hey I just met you but let’s get married and rule the land together” kind of love. I have a hard time committing to a telephone call let alone a royal marriage. Although, truth be told, I haven’t actually been proposed to by anyone from a royal family. Maybe I should withhold judgement there…

I am reading a book for a class I’m in right now on technology in education. One of the things it talks about is the different communities we, as humans, experience. In the olden days or, “Cinderella-times”, the community a person lived in would be approximately 10 miles at most. That was about how far someone would travel in their lifetime.It might take you to another village or two, but not much farther. The people in your community were chosen by location. You saw them, interacted with them, waved to them as you herded your goats, etc. Everyone knew everyone else.

Now a days, in the “Post -Cinderalla times”, communities are chosen by interest. You may have 1000 friends online that all like W.O.W or Pinterest, but you don’t know your next door neighbor’s first name. You may send inspirational thoughts to hundreds of people on your Instagram, but …. do you even have neighbors? The face to face interactions of the old communities have been all but lost. We don’t know how to communicate in person.

This book and the movie I saw today, got together in my head and percolated a bit. I was kind of laughing at the ridiculousness of two people instantly falling in love, and then I thought of the internet. We  have so much input, output, cyber exposure….maybe our ideal ‘mate’ has been distorted into someone/thing not reachable. We have created this ‘prince charming’ that can really only exist in our imagination.  Maybe the reason these simple minded peasants could fall so easily is because they really didn’t have a clue about ‘options’.

Times were simpler back then. Heck, people had their fairy godmother pushing them together. Today, I’d just like to run into an interesting person I hadn’t already Googled, stalked, or observed online, and talk about similar interests we discovered in person. It sounds pretty far fetched, I know, but….I’m still taking my goats out for a late night walk. Just in case.

Cause I said so.

Photo credit: http://www.inquisitr.com