TUESDAY THOUGHTS: A TIME TO DELETE written 3/2/2009

The laptop has been ailing, so I've been accessing facebook on my ancient cell phone. 

A friend is allowing me to borrow her laptop today,  so I'm able to see and do a little more, including social networking. 

Facebook, on MY phone is a slow, painful, limiting experience.

Anyhoo, someone sent me a facebook IM. 

I've only recently figured out how to reply...lolol

Truth be told, it scared the heck out of me as much as the first AOL IM I got years ago (Thank you, Richard). 

Things popping up out of the blue from places unknown...good Lord...It all seemed very Big Brother-ish.

I guess I didn't respond fast enough to the Facebook IM. 

Apparently I didn't respond at all. 

Sometimes, if you have too many windows open, and the sound on mute, you won't see the IM at all. So today, as I checked mail and enjoyed watching the snow, I closed a few windows and saw a message. 

Here's a portion of it:

"Hello...
"Hello"
"Oh, so you can't speak?'
"I guess people are hitting you up all the time on here, and I guess I am not BIG enough for you to speak to...but I understand. I spoke to you several times and you didn't speak back, but it's reality. I understand. You have a good day."

Mind you, all of that was written without a single reply from me. 

I stared at the message for a minute, and thought about what it implied. 

 What is "big"? 

What did he "understand"? 

In what reality does he operate? 

He had conducted a whole conversation without me, and filled in the blanks himself. 

There was no possibility that I had stepped away from the computer. 

No chance that I didn't even see the message. 

It was easier to decide that I was ignoring him and now, I was the newest b**** who needed to be told about herself. 

I could hear the tone. 

There was attitude....and the 2009 Facebook Snob Award goes to...Me!!!! 

Wow. 

My daughter told me not to accept friend requests from strangers, but noooooooo. 

I gotta be all friendly and stuff---especially with the Facebook users who identify themselves as Christian.

I do believe I got told off by someone whose friend request I accepted. 

Wow.

So I made the mistake of saying, "huh?", because I really didn't want someone walking away with an attitude, or thinking that this southern-born girl didn't have good home training.
A simple "huh" opened the Floodgates of Manipulation.

!!!!! AAAAAAAAAA!!!! 

 RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! 

CLOSE THE DAM! 

DO NOT ENGAGE!!! 

YOU WILL DROWN!!!!

You know, now I'm laughing at the enemy. 

He must be running out of stuff to use, and now he's trying to infect the harmony on Facebook.

People formed negative opinions about Jesus--a man who the Bible says went about doing good- because he didn't conform, or fall into a people-pleasing mode. 

What makes me think I'm going to make it through this life unscathed? 

No matter how you present yourself, there are those who will decide that you think more highly of yourself than you ought, and it is their responsibility to show you the way back to Earth.

Dude wanted a Facebook confrontation! 

"Maybe if I make her feel bad she'll chat with me". 

IN THE WORDS OF THE GREAT PHILOSOPHER MADEA, "HELL TO THE NAW!!!" 

 There will be no stress on Facebook! 

Facebook is a place for friends, or is that myspace?..whatever.

No foolishness on The Book!

Why is anyone---especially a stranger--- so important to you that you would, without knowing a single thing about them, decide that they are "big", thereby declaring yourself "small", and then have what amounts to a Facebook meltdown? 

Who has failed to acknowledge you, and now you are having a hissy fit? 

Who has not spoken to you, and it is making you form negative opinions about them? 

Who are you holding in higher esteem than you should?

We put people atop pedestals of our own making, and then get stupid when they don't live up to our lofty expectations. 

God is no respecter of persons. Why are we?

 

No more wasting time trying to fit into other people's boxes. It's way too much work. 

People will think whatever they want, no matter what you say or do. 

History has shown, that the peaceful and the violent, the nice and the nasty, have suffered the same fate.

There's a story I like to read to my classes, called "Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears".
In the end, a whole lot could have been avoided if the python hadn't jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Yes. Thank You, dear Reader. I plan to have a good day before, during, and after I hit "delete".