It’s Just The Principle
Wow, what does that statement really mean to you? I want this one to make you laugh a little and NOT take yourself so seriously. Come with me for a visit to an internet social community, specifically, my Facebook account.
If you have an account with Facebook or a similar website you can probably relate. Let me first say, I enjoy it. When I first signed on almost two years ago, it was simply something to do and I can say it is still just that today. It has evolved though.
My early dealings, was at obsession level. I had a complete ball on this site. I ran into a number of people from my past, I reconnected with family. The great thing was the ability to control connections. If you saw someone you knew and wanted to be in touch with you had the option of requesting friendship, just like if you found someone you knew and did not necessarily want to be in contact with you could simply move on. People from “outer-cyberspace” were requesting friendships, I was selective in accepting these unknowns. I applied what I felt were the proper filters and went from there. I avoided what I deemed to be “collectors” and I have kept my “friend” list to a small semi-intimate group of people that I regularly interact with, at the very least I/we say Hi, Happy Birthday, etc. to one another.
I laugh as I recall my friends speak about their first connections; after all this is a vehicle of our children, we just hopped in and rode anyway. I have become reacquainted with people who were so young the last time I saw them, my memory of them could more closely linked to the offspring of my own children. There have been the numerous privacy irregularities we have navigated through and pointless entertaining games. People have deactivated their accounts for one reason or the other, sometimes permanently other times to clear their heads and manage their free time better. Overall, Facebook has been a positive experience.
Now no piece would be complete without a visit to the dark side and trust me this is minuscule, but today I lost a” friend” on Facebook. I cannot tell you why, I don’t know what I did or even if I did anything. I have to say this “friend” was initially treated the same as all of my other Facebook “friends”. However, through deed and lack of contact this person had been placed in a status where there was very limited contact available. No pictures were accessible, there was no ability to comment on my posts or even to see my posts, my profile was visible as I make it for the unknowns in the Facebook world and I did not allow the posts of this same individual to be seen on my wall. Today I discovered that I not only had been deleted as this person’s friend but had been blocked! My first thought was , “The nerve…” and there were other superlatives involved.
As ridiculous as this may seem, even to me, it was simply the principle of it. For all intent and purpose I had deleted this individual, yet when an overt act denied me the ability to do the very same thing I felt insulted and disrespected. I searched for an explanation and there is an easy one; for whatever my former “friends” true motive(s), a position was taken and a stand was made. I cannot say a lot positive about this person’s character accept the obvious, my former “friend” was not indecisive and did exactly what I should have done over a year and a half ago with absolution. Instead I hesitated.
For future references don’t wait for things to happen because they will. If you feel strongly enough about something that you make semi-aggressive moves, be what you are dancing around. If it is just the principle stand by that principle.
hafacenturyncounting 