Public and Private Space

           The way in which people communicate in their public life is different than the way in which they communicate in their personal life; however, the two are interconnected. The book describes this relationship as “communication ethics in private life depends upon the strength of communicationethics in public life” (105). One way to look at this is conversations with family members at gatherings. When a couple attends a function together and mingle with their loved ones, their conversations and ideas are being shared publicly, however, when they return to themselves and share their thoughts privately about the function their conversation is then private. The public forum initiated conversations that were then transmitted into the realm of privacy.

            In order for public discourse to not affect one’s private relationship, they must keep their ideas private and not shared with too many others, as when ideas become spread and shared with more people the wall of privacy dissipates and the ideas become public. Sometimes one’s private life can help them bring a different perspective to their public lives. The book discusses the private work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and how he used his private world to bring new ideas to the masses that countered the public’s view in Nazi Germany. I can relate Bonhoeffer’s way of connecting his private life to affect public position. For many years I battled addiction privately, and I guarded that very deeply and separately from my public life. Through the admission that I had to do something, I was able to use my private struggles to educate others of my disease and lower the walls of stigma that surrounded it. My decision to expose my private life to others left me open to criticism, but it also opened the doors for more communication. The stigma of being called a drunk was hurtful, but being open about it allowed me to learn more and teach others of the struggles that are within. I still have a private life that I value and treasure and share it with very few people because “close friendships need the value of private information” (106), and thus my public life still remains open while being affected by my personal one. Inversely, my private life is shaped, in part, because of how my public life is structured and how I have chosen to share my previous private life with many others; eventually transforming my previous private life into a public one and creating new, stronger private and public lives.