It's hard to imagine a world before ours: one without phones, cameras, the internet, cars. All the things that make our world seem so much smaller than it actually is. A man by the name of Marshall McLuhan coined the term "The Global Village" wherein he explains that the world is becoming interconnected through an electronic nervous system, treating the world in itself as one single brain.

At least that's what I took from it. I learned about this concept in a college class that I took on a whim. It got me thinking about how many relationships I've started due to the interconnectedness of our world via the internet. I've made countless friends because of the internet's existence, and I'm beyond grateful for it everyday.

The problem with the friendships I've started due to my use of social media doesn't lie within me, but within society. Our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other adults in our lives have always told us, "Beware of creeps on the Internet!" "They could be lying about who they are!" I've always let my life be ruled by my fear and caution, and it wasn't until past recent years that I've actually begun to step outside my comfort zone. And it all started with online friendships.

It's safe to say that I've got more online friends than I do friends in my city, or surrounding areas. I love these people, all of them very dearly, and love to hear about them and their lives. I truly believe that it's not the medium in which the relationship begins that matters, but the effort put forth by both parties. This is true for any relationship. I have friends in New York, New Zealand, Canada, and North Carolina that I feel much closer to than friends I graduated high school with.

A relationship is not defined by distance, nor is it defined by how often you see each other. A real relationship, one of validity and earnestness, is defined only by the effort put into them. My best friend lives five minutes away from me, and it's been that way for twelve years. We can go days without seeing each other, but our friendship is the strongest I've ever had because we both make an effort to show we care about one another.

I have another friend who lives 3,000 miles away, and our friendship is as strong as ever. I see her once a year, and that doesn't do anything to derail our friendship. We talk on the phone, we text, we FaceTime. We have cultivated an entire relationship based off of the technology we have in our lives.

Distance makes things hard, and there's no way that I'll ever deny that, but letting distance and time eat away at your relationships is an almost cowardly thing to do. I've let distance dissolve plenty of good friendships and I live everyday wondering why I didn't try harder. I've lost so many friends because the convenience of having them close by had dissipated.

So I come to state, one last time, this piece of advice: Never let distance be the deciding factor when it comes to those you love and care about. It will always be a factor, but never let it be the one to choose the outcome. Distance can be overcome if each party has the strength and the trust necessary to believe. Be strong, be faithful, and most importantly: believe.