"Is the Circle still unbroken" ?

       "Is the Circle still unbroken" ?  This is a play on the title of a fine old song an and album which you might enjoy- Will the Circle Be Unbroken (30th Anniversary Edition) the song talks about the bond between family and friends and asks if, after death in "Heaven" will that bond still exist. Among theologians there is debate regarding whether relationships established in this dimension will be maintained in the next. For those with no belief  in an afterlife the answer is simple-NO. Those who believe in reincarnation think that their will be some connection though all parties may not be aware of it.[the puppy you picked because it licked your face when you first picked it up may be your best friend from a previous life].I think that there will be an awareness of a connection, a "Kindred Spirit" but not of a relationship in the earthly sense.
        But I digress, the point of this Blog is, Do relationships exist TODAY which are mutually beneficial and serendipitous [look that one up, it can be your word of the day] ? Does the busy, self gratifying, computer controlled and impersonal society we live in prevent us from really connecting with others ?
        My Space, Facebook, Twitter and a myriad of other social networking sites, have connected people in ways never before imagined, thousands of articles, numerous books and now a movie devoted to this "phenomenon". I have "friends" on Facebook who literally have thousands of FB Friends, I now have around 200 and when the number gets that high I get uncomfortable for reasons I cannot define. People I know and currently interact with on a personal level are on the list, associates in the motion picture business, contacts in the music industry, a few relatives and friends from the past.
       From time to time I remove people whom I do not really "know",sometimes I remove them for using rude, profane or racially discriminatory language. Post and comments with opposing view points on religion or politics are NOT removed unless they are otherwise "qualified" for removal. I have been pleased to find that I seldom FRIEND people who I later remove for what I consider offensive behavior. I may be a decent judge of character.
         There is a recently published book which may help explain the "feeling" I get when my friend numbers reach the 150 plus "threshold". The book is entitled The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell. It is a work describing how different groups of people interact in society, it is a good read. In it there is a chapter called "The Rule of 150" which discusses how we can best interact [learn, teach, emote] with no more than 150 persons at a time. When the number of individuals approximates this level it is time to began to form another group, this often takes place naturally with out any deliberate action by anyone.People discover other common connections with other members of the group and "splinter" while still maintaining  the original connections but forming a new group.
          This process is NOT a new one, Anthropologist and Sociologist have discovered that, so called "primitive" peoples banded together in tribes or "family groups" which seldom exceeded more than 100-150 individuals. The reasons varied based on logistical and social dynamics.In the Roman Era a Company of men in the Roman Legions was 150 as it is on average today. During the industrial revolution large factories put no more than 150 people on one task.

           Think about the rule of 150 , check your Facebook friends list, your Christmas card list, Twitter and MySpace . Can you have a real connection with more people than that and what can they add to your life ?