I had intended to write about my life-style changes today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. After watching enough of the happenings in Washington D.C. yesterday to make me sick (which only took about 10 minutes) I decided that I need to write just a little about the current situation in our country today. A few points for background and a frame of reference:
- I am a Christian and have been all my life. I don't go around grabbing people by the lapels and spouting scripture. I try to live my everyday life by Christian principles that were taught to me by my mother, father and grandparents.
- I am educated. I took full advantage of the educational system through elementary school, high school, college and graduate school. Being a librarian, I firmly believe in life-long learning and have practiced that through 45 years in the profession. I continue to learn every day.
- I am a historian/genealogist. I believe the past has much to teach us and that we are fools if we ignore it. I also believe that "family" is important and that it stretches beyond blood relatives.
- I am independent and strong-willed. Anyone who knew my mother, Vera, knows that she passed this trait along to me and my brother and that we have done the same thing for our children.
Many years ago, I joined the Facebook community. It was about the time that my daughter married her first husband. My reason was purely selfish. Maggie and her friends were sharing photos and events on Facebook and I didn't want to miss out on anything. I continue to use Facebook as a way to keep up with friends and family members who live too far away for regular visits. I have reconnected with long-time friends over the years and have found it to be a rewarding experience...most of the time. In the past few years, the "attitude" of Facebook has changed and the isolation of the quarantine because of COVID last year took it to a whole new level. The national news outlets have also changed drastically. You don't get the facts anymore, you get the broadcaster's opinion. You can't just listen to a speech from the president and draw your own conclusions. You have to be told afterward by a news commentator what the president meant when he spoke and how you should believe.
About 3 weeks into the "national lock-down" last year, I stopped watching the national news each night. It was just too depressing to watch. I also began to censor what I was reading on Facebook. The meanness, nastiness and unkindness in many of my friends' posts did a real number on my psyche. The isolation of the pandemic was bad enough. Being a "people" person, I thrive on interaction with those around me. Living alone after Steve's death made it imperative that I continue to interact with everyone around me so that I didn't become a hermit. But the restrictions of the pandemic made that impossible and the negativity of social media and the news sent me into a tailspin. So, I quit watching any news and only read uplifting and neutral posts from Facebook. I immersed myself in good books...what else would a librarian do...and was able to weather the isolation with the help of some excellent characters and stories in the "Outlander" series of books.
Fast forward to this week. The happenings in Washington yesterday brought out the worst in Facebook posts and the news. I can no longer escape to the pages of a book because Diana Gabaldon writing fast enough. I have realized something about the opinions expressed on social media. It has taken me almost 70 years to form my philosophy of life. It has taken you however many years old you are to form your philosophy of life. My 10 minute sound-bite on Facebook is not going to make you change your philosophy and your 10 minute sound-bite isn't going to change mine! So let's stop the bickering and get back to uncomplicated interaction with our friends and neighbors. I am making a conscious effort, starting today, to live by the philosophy expressed by L. R. Knost (noted children's author and child-advocate) in this quote:
Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break and all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go; love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.
Will you join me? I hope so!
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