Facebook Friday… where I share the most noteworthy things I found on FB for the week…
First I found this…
I remember going to the Stardust Theatre a time or two. We would take a blanket to place on the hood of the car in the summer — and in the winter, you’d need that blanket to stay warm inside the car (it’s not like you could leave your vehicle running through two movies). You could see about everything once it got dark enough for the shows to begin. From parents with a car full of kids (cheap entertainment for the family), to teenagers walking around visiting with every other teenager in town. And there were plenty of steamed-up windows too. But never mine. 😉
And so you don’t think I’m in love with Facebook:
Because I’ve not shared a negative thing reference Facebook for so long you might be thinking I love it… here’s this great example to the left of why I don’t. I hate this shit type of thing for a multitude of reasons:
- One might assume the person who included the words within the image was no more than 10 years old. “U R” is only slightly shorter than “you are” and the grammar police in me cringes every single time I see it used.
- What is to gain by this? Obviously, we are supposed to feel guilty if we don’t type “amen.” And if we ignore it and scroll on past we are scum of the earth heartless! What other purpose is there?
- 18k people responded by commenting — most of them typed “amen.”
- 1,800 people shared it… so they could make THEIR friends feel guilty and heartless if they didn’t do the same.
- And… 45,000 people liked the photo. Where does Facebook find all these stupid people anyway? And obviously, at least ONE of them is a friend of mine or I wouldn’t have ever had this photo served up in my newsfeed.
This sort of reminds me of an incident I remember happening when I drove a school bus. I had a parent walk their child to the bus and excitedly show me a letter she had received from Publisher’s Clearing House. It was the one that said something like “YOU HAVE WON A GAZILLION DOLLARS” and in small print below… “or a free $1 item with your next purchase.” This woman was barely able to read and believed her life was about to change forever — at a time when she was living in a house with a dirt floor and trying to raise one handicapped child and his sibling. It’s no secret there are people that believe everything they read on the Internet and see on Facebook. Watch out for the traps and instead simply pick out the things that make you happy. Never feel guilty for not clicking “like” or “share.”
And finally…
My Dad spent a lifetime treating people the way he felt they should be treated. In our small-town grocery store, he spent just as much time talking to Edna, (who purchased cat food for her own dinner), as he did the customer who spent a good deal of money every week to feed a family. It’s simply who he was.
I guess I didn’t realize how much I am like my Dad in certain aspects, and so I laughed when I read Jerilyn’s Facebook status update. A minister tells her it’s a good thing to be kind and speak to everyone along the way and she has an “ah ha!” moment. I tried to tell her the same for decades and she blew me off. Life is funny like that I guess. And if YOU don’t go on Facebook right this second and type “amen,” on Jerilyn’s post and share it — you are heartless. Seriously.