1-7-11

I fell asleep on the couch at 7 p.m. tonight. At 8, I took Bailey out for the night, and we came upstairs to go to bed. Here it is 2 1/2 hours later, and I'm still sitting at the computer. I communicated with a friend via Facebook after someone posted a snarky comment on her wall that spending too much time on Facebook did not set a good example for her daughters. Those were fighting words to me because my friend is an amazing woman. She is beautiful and funny and smart and driven. Above all else, she is an amazing mother. It is at moments like this that I despise social networking. It is so easy for people to post insensitive comments without thinking of how they will be received. My friend admitted to me that the comment made her cry, and she wanted to close her Facebook account at that very moment. Another friend of mine had a similar reaction a few months back when she and her brother had "words" over a comment he had posted. 

I think it goes back to my thoughts about our "convenience store" mentality from a few days ago. We relish the 24x7 service afforded to us online without taking the time to really understand how our words might affect another person. 

While I was on Facebook tonight, I also read a story that was linked by another friend. It was a story about a young man, 27, who was a PhD student at Princeton, He died of an apparent suicide and left a long letter about how the domestic and sexual abuse he had suffered as a child shrouded him in darkness. It was a powerful and tragic story.

So much pain in the world -- from an insensitive post on Facebook to enduring sadness from a traumatic childhood. It sounds so cliche, but until you stand or walk in another's shoes you can never truly know them.