Category: Facebook hiatus

Agreeing to disagree

Today I was asked what I write about.  This is always a hard question for me, though it shouldn’t be.  Is my blog a journal? God, I hope not.  I said I like to write about things going on in the world, but I like to keep it positive.  There is enough negativity in the world I don’t need to add to it.  I like to be part of the solution, not the problem, even though I have yet to find a cure for cancer or global warming.  You see I believe kindness needs a voice.  In a world where so many feel alone or angry, where being loud or vocal gets the attention, I want a place where I can quietly contemplate and hopefully start meaningful discussions.

Recently I’ve been off Facebook (though admittedly I’ve cheated by peeking occasionally).  But being off has given my brain a rest from the hamster wheel of information.  I still like seeing what friends are up to, but I don’t miss the one-sided political talk.  We as a nation have lost our ability, it would seem, to have a reasonable conversation.  I want to hear about things from those who I don’t agree with.  If I’m living in a vacuum of opinions that are only like mine, I wonder why things can’t be the way I would like them.  After all, the rest of the world apparently agrees with me, or so says my Facebook feed most of the time.  How do we fix that algorithm to improve the conversation?  Now I’m not going to say I’m suddenly going to agree with you, but maybe if we talk and compromise, we can come to a mutually agreeable solution.  What would be so wrong about that?

There are certain topics of course that seem to polarize.  Abortion springs to mind.  But just as not everyone agrees, most agree we should have less and perhaps that is the starting point.  Instead of people getting upset about guns being taken away, maybe we could agree that assault rifles aren’t something that everyone needs access to.  I’m not a fan of guns in general, but hey, if someone wants to hunt for sport and dinner, well I suppose I could live with that.  I suspect those who do hunt aren’t doing it with AR15s.  But maybe we could start a conversation.  Find the things we have in common.  You like nature, I like nature.  You have kids, I have kids.  Maybe we could start there? Feel free to join the conversation.  Just do so courteously.  That is all I ask.  You don’t have to agree.  We can always agree to disagree after all.

40 days and nights?

So I find Lent (the period preceding Easter that in the Christian Church is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church, it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday and so includes forty weekdays) a good time to reflect.  I also find it a good time to curb some of my worse habits.  This year, I’ve decided to give up Starbucks and Facebook.  I did the Facebook portion last year.  It actually was very helpful for my overall piece of mind.  Not sure if it will help my “writing” career here much, but since no one has paid me yet, I’m not going to stress too much about that.

Starbucks is more to break what has become a bad habit.  I don’t need to pay for coffee every morning.  Especially since I’m not working right now.  I much rather put those funds toward getting healthy.  While Starbucks is convenient, it is definitely something I should learn to live without, so away that goes.

I’m curious too if this will get me back on track writing a bit more.  I do plan to continue posting here, though I won’t have the reminders posted on Facebook.  I may change my mind on that because I follow the old “you can take Sunday’s off during Lent”.  I’m not quite sure where growing up I learned about the waiver of having to observe your Lenten “penance” on Sundays.  I suspect it is either related to my father being raised by Jesuits whereby he learned a lot about our faith including the loopholes; or if it was my Irish background.  I know for example you got a pass on Saint Patrick’s Day too.  Of course, my Italian-American husband had never heard of this, but then he isn’t as strict and probably wasn’t looking for loopholes as a kid.  Whatever the case, I’m sure when I get to missing Facebook you may find me lurking on Twitter @acme707.

Maybe I’ll even have a paying job by the end of Lent.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  If you do want to reach me though you can always email me (eww email?) at acme707@pacbell.net.  I still have yet to set up my email for this “blog”, but maybe I’ll get to that during my 40-day exercise.

You can always post comments here as well.  I will happily share them.  I only moderate to weed out the spam-bots I seem to get quite regularly.  It will be interesting to see if my readership lags or if really it just bots out there.

Anyway, for those who enjoy Mardi Gras, eat up.  I’ve consumed my chocolate today which will hopefully last me for awhile.  Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday when I get to observe the lightweight Catholic fast.  Two small meals and one big one.  I may have to devote a posting just to that.  We shall see.

Don’t be a stranger while I’m away from Facebook.  I will try to update weekly and always appreciate the feedback.