Taking a Break from Facebook...

This is a reprint from my other blog about a fast from Facebook that I am in the beginnings of--I enter it here because it is personal, and this is my personal blog.  I want to write more, soon, about this experiment.

I am weary to the bone. Everywhere I turn where there are other people, it seems a spirit of condescension has taken over where respect (arguably) used to exist. That’s against my religion.

I turn on the TV and find people screaming slogans at one another, without regards to who might be listening. And no one hears. We are desperately longing to be heard, but unwilling to listen, ourselves.

I read it on Facebook, where people with different political perspectives rail against one another as though there were a “correct” attitude to have about being alive in this country in these times, or a simple solution to problems that have plagued humankind since we discovered we were humankind. While there has always been antagonism between political camps, I feel like we have moved from a situation where people were valued despite their ideals, to one where people’s Humanity is devalued based on their ideals.

Even in Sunday school class, where “Love one another” is meant to be the organizing principal, politics creeps in and makes volatile the discussion about helping the poor, the widow and the orphan.

We really do need to strive for civil dialogue–right speech, as the Buddhists say.

Focusing on Facebook:

Despite connecting with people I had lost touch with and enjoying the wit and wisdom of friends that I would otherwise miss, there is not a day that passes that I don’t feel like killing my Facebook account (already, I barely watch television and I avoid talk radio like dental surgery). I want to rise up and operate above the noise and the haste that has hijacked discourse in my life.  I want to remain rational, and not let my fear of what other people believe lead me into irrational rants against this group or that group.

I have been feeling this way for a while, now.  It started when I realized that I was being snarky without cause, and it continues too often. The good of social networking far outweighs the bad (for every snipe or rant there are five baby-in-tux photos that make me smile), but I seem to remember the bad too often. So, I am going to follow the little voice inside of me and do a little experiment. I am going to give my password to a good friend of mine and have him change my password. I am going to ask him not to give my account back to me until August 11 (when Ramadan begins?).

If you are a friend and you want to visit with me during this sabbath, find me on Twitter, comment on my blog, or email me [no spaces: d di cker son 7 2 (at) yahoo (dot) com].  Better yet, call me and let’s meet up for a beer. You can tell me, face-to-face, about the music you love, the vacations you enjoy, the people in your life who move you. And I will talk back and share my life with you.

I hope to run into you in public more often. )