What I Desire From The FaceBook Experience

You, me, us, sharing our stories and insights from living the experiences--that's why I participate in FaceBook. It's a grand way to connect.

Those that went to high school with me remember me as the (shuddering here) "nice girl with the good grades and the really thick, ugly glasses." It was the seventies and eighties--need I say anymore about the fashion statement that I was? I didn't get the good grades because I had a huge intellect, or because I was a brown-noser. I had decent memorizing abilities, and I caught onto concepts fairly quickly and easily, and--well-trained gopher that I was for certain family members--I was also great at fulfilling the requirements asked of me.

But I'm pretty sure my teachers liked me mainly because I was a respectful and considerate listener. A couple of weeks ago, I was out with my husband celebrating his birthday by going out dancing to one of our favorite bands who were in town--and at the end of the night, one of the performers thanked me for staying to the end.

My favorite memories growing up on the farm are of sitting around the big kitchen table with family friends, relatives, and people just passing through; or in my brothers' room with their friends, listening to the stories everyone had to share. There was so much laughter, and I remember dreading having to go to bed before everyone else in case I missed out on something. I had parents, brothers and sisters who were great story tellers. They'd share some of their most embarrassing moments, and easily laugh at themselves. I loved trips home to re-unite with my family for those reasons--it reminded me to not take myself so seriously, and to take another look at the stuff about myself, see the humor in me.

How does all of this relate to FaceBook? When personal computers first came out, they opened up a whole new world for me. Using a word processor, I could actually type (the typewriters were my nemesis) my thoughts out quickly as they hit and then finesse them up easily later--I started writing. And then e-mail came along and I could easily share those thoughts with another without having to re-write it, stamp it, and then mail it, and then wait a few days for a reply. I was an e-mail junkie--until I started getting inundated with jokes and forwards that people used instead of their own words and stories. I lost the personal connection--and I missed it.

Then a few years ago, along came FaceBook, and the opportunity for me to re-connect with friends and acquaintances that I never expected to meet again--and many of them, on a level I never dreamed I'd be able to achieve with just a few.

It's been fun at times, and I've used it as a tool to come out of hiding and express what I'm really thinking.

It's also been frustrating because it's going the way of e-mail--quotes, sentiments, jokes, political gossip, etc. being forwarded without my "friends" connecting personally with me. Quotes that inspire and uplift, the occasional joke that makes me chuckle--they're all great, but honestly, if a person doesn't share with me how that relates to a story in their life--I'm going to forget it in the blur of forwarded messages. It turns into spam in my consciousness.

Politics, religion, relationship spats--that's all just gossip to me. And gossip is energy-stealing and feeding at its worst. There's not a damn thing I can do about what others say and do, and I don't feel the need to be anyone else's watchdog. In this day and age, anyone out to steal the power from another is going to get slapped right back with what he/she puts out without me having to take a second look at any of them. And people can't steal from me or affect me in any manner unless I'm first handing myself over on a platter saying, "Poor, pitiful me--here I am--Eat ME!" With me, it's all about how to empower myself in my life and thus being able to empower another in theirs.

FaceBook posts for special causes are also irritating in that most of them end in the guilt trip, "Only 99% of people reading this will dare to re-post this as their status..." Because of this line, I WON'T re-post it, and sometimes there's something in the missive that I actually like.

Anyone else remember the old chain letter? FaceBook has it's own version and it uses superstition and fear to get people to re-post nonsense in order to get blessings. Frankly, my beloved friends, I always wish for you the blessing of living your most wildly abundant lives--no strings, no conditions attached.

In short, I just wanted you all to know--it's YOU that I want hear. You ARE the blessings in my life. I AM thankful for FaceBook providing me with the opportunity to participate in sharing ourselves with each other. I hope you'll share yourself with me--I LOVE your stories and personal insights and comedies.