Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Hey everyone. How are you these days? I’m trying to remember what life was like before social media. Seems like we all are so quick to point out faults in each other, politicians, athletes, religions, and certainly anyone who has any type of opinion that doesn’t exactly jibe with what we personally think these days. Even if there’s no basis in reality. And social media maybe makes it easier for any sort of disagreement to get ugly. Man, I’m not a fan. I’ve seen all the justifications and I think I do understand why we will go off the rails to defend our positions on topics we really believe in, it’s human nature – and in some cases, we are firmly entrenched in the thought that what we personally believe is really that important not only to ourselves, but society and the world in general. We probably all hold beliefs like that. So, when we see someone who thinks, says and does things we disagree with, well – social media makes it easy for that disagreement to get ugly quick. I guess the bottom line for me is – whatever happened to character? Does personal integrity matter to anyone anymore? Haven’t we all made mistakes? What makes it so easy to call everyone else out for any infraction, when we’ve all done things we’re not proud of? And, whatever happened to truth? To maybe making sure what we’re even getting upset about has any basis in reality? We’ve all seen pretty intolerant things posted on social media (politics are really getting wild as the election gets near). We also disagree on how to handle the virus, vaccine discussions can really get ugly fast, all kinds of issues with athletes from the crap they get caught doing to how the leagues handle issues, the money they make, etc – and I’ve even seen many posts disparaging to religions that differ from our own, or religion in general. So – is this what we’ve decided to spend our time on? Is it fun? Does it make our lives better? To look at social media and get pissed off daily by everything we see so we spend hours arguing back and forth on issues we don’t agree on? It seems like that’s where many of us are at these days. It can be hard not to get sucked in at times. But, maybe – before you see that post and feel anger welling up inside you and write something insulting and full of rage – just take a second to think about what you’re doing. Does it matter? Will it really feel good to you to post that? Or maybe this isn’t a person you want or need in your life anymore. We can unfollow, we can unfriend, we can hide the occasional post from a friend we disagree with. Why get sucked in? What good does it do? Maybe civil discourse isn’t possible in this format. It can be fun to read back and forth discussion of issues between two people who have different views and keep it civil. When was the last time you saw that? Every day we spend an inordinate amount of time hating on each other. What an incredible world it would be if we spent even half that time loving each other instead, looking for all the great things that people are doing, and maybe keeping our own house in order first by standing tall with integrity. People you love watch what you do, how you hold yourself, how you treat people. Online and in person – are you being the best person you can be?
1 Comment
You hit the nail on the head. This is so true for me in my life at this time. I have family members that got involved in a social media session of tit for tat, and it has come to a head with hurt feelings and people not talking to each other. All just before the holidays- yay (said dripping in sarcasm.)