Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Snow. Christmas tree. 1st appearances for both. I’ve been seeing more friends than usual post on Facebook in the past week that they’re thinking about deleting their profile entirely. Most common reasons are: time wasted perusing the site that could be used more productively elsewhere, the sea of seemingly endless “negative” and/or “hateful” posts, fake profiles, fake news, spam, privacy concerns, etc, etc, etc… maybe we all have thoughts like this at some time regarding social media. I know I do. It can be awesome for finding and reconnecting with old friends, seeing what activities are going on, promoting your business, and following each other’s lives on a daily basis. I really like that part of it. On the other hand, you can also find out that someone you have a good personal relationship with can be a totally different person in the Facebook profile. I have several Facebook friends I had to unfollow over the years because I just have no interest in seeing their slew of hateful, negative posts. I rarely “unfriend” people, but every now and then if it’s someone I’m not even sure how we became friends in the first place, and I don’t care to see their posts, I will also use that option. I often “hide” posts I don’t want to see from people – and I have to say, that seems to be a more and more frequent occurrence. But, like anything in life – we can create our own reality on Facebook or any social media site. Don’t want to see political posts from the other side? Unfriend or block every friend who doesn’t agree with you. Hide the posts. Unfollow people. Does it make you feel different about someone when you become friends on Facebook, knowing them beforehand, having a good relationship, then seeing you disagree on almost everything on political and/or religious or personal beliefs? I think it can. I’ve even seen sports threads get so heated they could affect interpersonal relationships. Personally, I made a decision long ago not to get caught up in political or religious wrangling. It’s just not worth it to me. Sometimes I’ll see threads where two of my friends will be going back and forth, with serious tension and vitriol in the air, about issues they disagree upon. I’ve been around long enough now to have seen and been involved in arguments about what is and/or isn’t right depending on personal beliefs to know – almost always, in the end, everyone is pissed off and has dug into their original position even more deeply. We can agree to disagree without getting mad about it. We can back away, or hide threads that hit a nerve. We don’t always have to be right. We have options. In anything we do in life, we have options. I try to focus on the awesome things that Facebook and social media has done, and continues to do for me. If it ever gets to the point where all it does is piss me off, or make me sad, or frustrated… it’ll be time to move on. Which is good advice for anything in life. Because we all have options. Are we choosing the best ones for ourselves, our families and our communities? Those are the options that involve love. Before you hit send, ask yourself: “what emotion will this post bring to others? Love? Anger? Hatred? Fear?”… because we tend to reap what we sow. Maybe none of us will ever be perfect here, we all have issues that will suck us in and get us going, but I know personally I’ve been thankful for backing out of posts several times over the years that really would have just inflamed an already ugly situation. It is my hope that you feel love and hope and maybe even a new perspective in these weekly “looking out my back window” posts. Every day can be a great day if that is our mindset. It’s one of the options 
