GO

Sometimes you find tranquility in the strangest places.

I recently joined a local chat group designed for organizing Pokémon GO players. To be honest, the whole thing overwhelmed me. Thousands of messages, photographs and links about the game were shared in this group on a daily basis. Endless meetings, discussions, and strategies flashed in front of my eyes before I could process the last one I just received. All I wanted to do was play a game that reminded me of my childhood. Now it felt like homework.

Since childhood, I’ve always liked riding solo. It saved me from getting tangled in any drama, and the freedom allowed me to make swift decisions. However, this particular game was one that disallowed that type of attitude. So reluctantly, I went to one of the meet ups, or “raids”, as it was termed in the game. I fully expected to meet some strange characters.

That’s when I found tranquility.

The people I met were not misfits or outcasts. Hell, they weren’t even children. They were people from all walks of life and all cultural backgrounds. They were professionals, parents and peers. It was evident that these weren’t individuals that typically find themselves next to each other. Yet they were unified, and what brought them together was not some revolutionary principle, but a silly goal of catching a digitally generated graphic. During these divisive times, this gathering was a stark reminder that human condition is a shared experience. We have always been one. There was peace in all this silliness.

I went to a second gathering recently. I fully expected no one to know me due to my initial reluctance to engage, but to my surprise, one of the chat room moderators recognized me and my return.

”It’s nice to see you again, Ed.” he said.

And off we went, to catch yet another Pokémon.

-Ed.