The Reality of the Girl's Network

It has come to my attention that many either do not know of the girls' network, or deny that it exists. Often times it comes as a surprise to boys how quickly information about themselves spreads. No one should be surprised once the girls' network is truly understood.

The girls' network is vast. It transcends national borders. Oceans cannot limit its sphere of influence. The girl's network does not have beginning of days nor end of life. It is beyond comprehension and defies understanding. What is said to one, may very well be said to many.

The girls' network is a powerful and effective means of gathering information. Most of the time spent on the girls' network is discussing boys. The girls' network shows that girls are much more adept at compiling and transferring relevant information at all levels of complexity. At the most fundamental level, they've got the face-to-face girl-talk down. Whether the group is small or large, girls have an innate capability for asking the right questions, and answering with enough information to very quickly gather and disseminate lots of information in a short period of time.

Technology has only fueled the network. Standard forms of technology, such as cellphones, email, SMS, and IMing, allow for the girl's grapevine to more quickly gather and spread information. Then there are the more advanced technological resources found on the Internet: Facebook, Myspace, blogs, Twitter, etc. Through the Internet, masses of information go into the public domain so that any girl with a web browser can harvest the relevant information and insert it directly into the network. In fact, assuming that girls and boys use technological resources equally, in a way I don't quite fully comprehend, girls seem to utilize them better than their counterparts to promote the network's ends.

It is true that not every female is an active participant to the girls' network, but this does not diminish the validity of the network. No other network comes close to being as efficient or robust. While I fully acknowledge there are exceptions, I also make the argument that many girls who are not active participants to the girls' network would participate if given the chance. Some girls feel like they do not participate in the girl's network because they limit their information-divulging to select individuals who "do not spread it." This is often times false, and may be how the girl's network is so effective. All it takes is one girl, and the rest is history.

I feel like a piano key right now

Before I begin, let me reassure you that I love life very much. This past week has been hard on me, though, as I have become acutely aware of my inadequacies and limitations. The worst part is that I have felt quite powerless against my weaknesses. In Notes from Underground, the underground man perfectly explains how I feel: "then, you say, science itself will teach man that in fact he has neither will nor caprice, and never did have any, and that he himself is nothing but a sort of piano key or a sprig in an organ; and that, furthermore, there also exist in the world the laws of nature; so that whatever he does is done not at all according to his own wanting, but of itself, according to the laws of nature." The underground man later questions if mankind really has free will. He uses the example of someone playing the piano. That piano player may say that he is pressing a key with his right hand because he wants to, and that he can play it with his left hand if he really wanted to, but there is actually another factor that goes into his decision-making besides his own free will. This upstream reason exists whether he knows it or not. In fact, if he thinks he is in control, he is stupid. This analysis is exactly how I feel with life at the moment. I feel like I may think that I can choose, and live my life according to plan, but I am actually not making any decisions. I am at the mercy of my motivations, my mood, and chemicals in my body. I feel like I am a piano who is very much at the mercy of other factors to play me.

However, I am almost 100% sure that my "underground man" feelings are only temporary. It is not true that we have no control over our circumstances. Each of us has ups and downs (I am in a down moment in case you can't tell), and we may doubt our free will at times, but we have power to rise above ourselves. In addition to our bodies, each of us has a spirit. This distinction sets us apart from all the animals and any scientific creation. Let me conclude with a quote from Notes: "It seems to me that the meaning of man's life consists in proving to himself every minute that he's a man and not a piano key."