Diaspora
I’d a depressing realisation yesterday: despite the fact that my brother Thomas & I get along quite well, we’re not likely to see one another all that many times in the future—very probably, less than two dozen. That’s the problem with dispersed family (and, of course, friends): those not in the same geographic area must make a specific effort to see one another, an effort which becomes ever more tedious as the years increase.
Two dozen seems an awfully small number, but it makes sense. I hope to visit him for his winging ceremony (when he gets his pilot’s wings), and of course I’ll be there at his wedding. But after that, he’ll be stationed all over the world—nowhere near Colorado—and his own family & holidays. First it’ll be a two-year gap between, then four, then more. Pretty soon we’ll be strangers.
It’s not unique to Thomas & myself, of course: the same applies to each of us brothers. John is still in Colorado, but it’s not at all certain that he’ll that he would stay. Even should he, when one lives in another end of a Western state the opportunities to cross paths are few and far between. Stephen is still at home, but who knows where his future path will take him? One would imagine that with four brothers the odds would be good that two would end up in the same place, but that’s not the case at all. Interestingly, we Uhl brothers have a far smaller chance of knowing one another in the future than do those I know with but a single sibling.
It’s not even limited to family. The same holds for me & my college friends: they’re all in Texas, and I’m here. As the years pass, I have become less and less likely to go down there, and they have become less and less likely to come up here. I see no reason for that trend to reverse.
The technology for keeping us together has not kept up with the technology for separating us. No longer can one rely on meeting with all one’s circle in the nearest local pub—or even in any pub anywhere, ever. Someone needs to perfect virtual reality Right Now, so that we can meet with all our friends and acquaintances as though in real life.
