By Edgar Meyer
There you are beyond my reach,
Separated by space and barred
From my physical greeting.
What realities I imagine for you!
What trepidations I feel!
What anxiety in this silent stillness!
Are you alone in the world,
In this connected world without connection?
Are you barely hanging on?
Is that why your screen is black,
And there is only a name?
Is that why you do not answer back?
Is your occasional stoic stare
An earnest plea for help—
A guttural cue that all is not well?
How many of you have I missed
In this digital chasm?
How many of you have I let down?
Do you know that I love you—
That I hope and pray for your well being?
Do you know just how much I care?
Perhaps, these little boxes can’t convey
Just how anyone is really doing,
Unless they speak up and say:
“Enough is enough; I need a hand.
The best you can do is not the best for me.
I do not understand!”
This device is not a teacher;
This link is not a classroom.
Is it just me, or can we all agree?
Can’t we all just stop, right this very moment,
Scream into a thousand pillows,
And not pretend as though we are all really here?
Can’t we all just admit, with no disgrace,
That we are the better versions of ourselves
When we learn and teach and practice face to face?
Edgar R. Meyer, M.A.T., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor who serves as the Assistant Director of the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences Program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences, with an appointment in the School of Medicine, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomical Sciences.