Facebook Quandaries

I need a Facebook diversion.  It's out of control.  I'm sensing a desperation on the part of several "friends".  I've decided it's not the forum.  I want to like some of these people, but when I read the despicable, pathetic vitriol that spews forth in some of these "posts", I have second thoughts...and that makes me sad, frustrated and angry.

I get having an opinion, I really do.  I get wanting it to be heard, I get being frustrated that "things aren't right in the world" and I get not liking what "the other side" is saying.  On facebook you REALLY get that last one though.  The anonymity of fb; being able to just write and post and "like" and "unlike", gives us a sense of mysterious power that a lot of us would have the common sense not to display in any other social setting.

I've decided this is the way to go...blog it.  Let's just see how many people give a hoot about your griping and complaining and anger and fist waving.  They have to go to your blog, click on your link, seek out your opinion.  That, or I need 1146 friends like my kids---no wonder they never comment on my posts.  They never see them!  When you have  a mere 209 friends and you consider that only a small portion of those are active, you see every stinkin' status update that comes along.  And, clearly, some folks are getting paid a tidy little sum at their day jobs to do not much of anything outside of web-surfing and reposting links.

I'm so tired of the partisan ranting.  My dad is a rantor.  He rants about ranting.  Most of the time I agree with him, but I'm even tired of that ranting.  I realize the why-can't-we-all-just-get-along approach is NOT going to work...ever.  Ever.  But people have really gotten out of control.  I know people who have recently posted comments so absurd that, if the tables were turned point by point in their "posts", they would be appalled that someone had the audacity to even think some of those things about them, let alone write them in a status update.  But, if they are the ones saying it, if they believe themselves to be the higher intellect, if they don't see a need for compromise, then...well...then they must simply be right.  Oh, and by the way, the rest of you who disagree are stupid, ignorant fools.  I'm sick of that.  It's not right.  And, it's not a good means to any solution, far less one they will like.

I don't think there is much of a solution here other than avoidance.  There are certain people that I know to avoid like the plague.  They are toxic.  They will fight and argue a point for the sake of doing so.  They are never wrong.  They are always more brilliant and, for all they care, you really can go take a flying leap off of a bridge somewhere.  Does that make them "bad people"--I don't know.  But I know it sure as heck makes them difficult to be around by anyone than other people just like them.

I am proud that I have a very diverse group of friends.  At least I think I do.  I have friends who are from different political parties, friends with different skin color, friends from different countries, friends of different ages and economic backgrounds and religions, country-club golfing friends and camping in the woods fishing friends.  Are these all uber close see-all-the-time friends?  No.  But I consider them friends and I would stop to talk to them in Walmart or Talbots, Arby's or Mahogany's (ok, not in Mahogany's because I just can't force myself to pay that much for a steak that my husband can cook just as well in our backyard...how 'bout Fusco's?)  Anyhow, my point is this: If I find out the world is coming to an end tomorrow, I sure hope that I can surround myself with people with different ideas, suggestions and beliefs.  Because if I can't--I'm at a real loss as to any additional viable, thought-provoking, helpful solutions other than my own.

Now my ideas may be better in some instances.  But maybe there are better solutions elsewhere for other instances.  I have a set of values and morals that I would never waiver from.  I believe in God and I have faith in what my church teaches.  Those would always be guidelines I would base my decisions on.  But assuming that someone outside my "circle" doesn't have something of value to offer, or is ignorant because of their stated beliefs does nothing but short change me in the long run.  There will be people with little to offer, and there will be those who are ignorant...both outside and inside my little circle.

It's when we become that person within our own circle that we've really lost touch.  I'm seeing a lot of that and it makes me terribly sad.  So, I'm giving everyone a break from my own spewing. I'll spew to myself, because that's really what that little "status update" is about...and often times it combines itself with quite a bit of pot-stirring.  But in my own blog I can post my little opinion and then, if you so choose, you can go to the trouble of clicking on it, reading it all and commenting...or not.  No harm, no foul.  And, if you don't have more than 209 friends like me, then you don't have to see, read or think about any of my angry, condescending, ignorant, insensitive, thoughtless, cruel, opinionated opinions.

You can thank me later.

There's this Woman I Know

There's this woman I know who is ....


Amazing, wonderful, awesome, fantastic, outstanding, super...??? No, not really. We hear those words all the time. Honestly...do we really pay attention to those superlatives? I think not.

This woman is interesting. She is smart. She is kind. She is hysterical. She has thousands of children. She has no children. She is respected. She is tough. She is tender. She is unique. She is clever. She is sneaky. She is good-hearted. She is wise. She is active. She is tired. She is tenacious. She is unwavering. She is fair. She is a wife. She is a daughter. She is an aunt. She is a boss. She is an employee. She is a leader. She is memorable. This woman is a principal.

Being an elementary school principal is a special job in it's own right. But take an extraordinary person and put them in that job and you have something beyond simply "special". You have kids and parents who feel secure. You have kids and parents who learn. You have ingenious solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. You have kids who learn to lead by example. You have an advocate insistent on the very best for ALL "her kids". You have kids learning to be ambassadors of good stewardship, honesty, integrity, intellect, kindness. You have parents and kids learning to cooperate in order to achieve goals. You have fun times and fond memories. You have nothing short of a host of angels helping to lift you and your child up to the highest levels of success. And when there are failures, disappointments or struggles, you have a shoulder upon which you and your child may cry. You have an advisor, a coach, a counselor and sometimes a referee.

This woman is the only elementary principal my children have ever known. For some kids she is their principal for all years, for others only part of a single year. But every year, this woman knows every childs name...not by the end of the year...by the beginning of the year. She knows their strengths, she knows their weaknesses. She knows their parents. She knows where they are from. She knows each and every child's "story". She knows your child and she knows mine.

And throughout the last nineteen years, this woman I know has become an integral, important, meaningful part of our family's story...more importantly, this woman, she is our friend.
Thank you Patti.

you WILL be my friend--dammit

yep--that's how it is with me. Once my friend, always my friend...well almost. Except for the folks who have decided they can't stand me and vice versa. But TODAY was it for one friend. She got the Here's-How-It's-Gonna-Be-Sista email from me! I hadn't heard from her, we haven't had any of those heart-to-hearts, and I was missing her! So that's what happened this morning, I shot off one of my ever-so-clever emails and within 10-15 minutes, lo and behold...CONTACT! She WAS alive, no one had DIED & she still considers me friend (although we have a little work to do on the "active" part of that on her end!) Anyhow, we finally got to talk this afternoon, with the standard 47 interruptions, but it was nice and I love catching up with her.

It was a crazy day though. Met Steve for a banking appointment downtown--whoa, wasn't THAT weird! Picked up the santa puzzle that had been sitting at Zieglers for 2 or 3 months, hit the Scrapbook Convention Vendor Faire (thank you Jamie !), then over to sign up (late) for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, then to pick up RRB, then AMB, then Macy's for a birthday gift for AMB's friend tonight, then home for a bit, (when quick talk with above-mentioned friend occurred), then PSB home for 10 minutes before leaving with friend to go watch a well being logged by Biddick bros, then took AMB to birthday slumber party, picked up RRB's buddy, took them out to eat, home for all of one hour then a dreadfully needed Blockbuster run (and we all know how much i LOVE watching movies....NOT!), and finally, here I sit. KIDS**ATTENTION KIDS**THIS IS WHAT I "DO" ALL DAY!!

...and I love it.

Funny line today - PSB after meeting with private banking rep, "...they just don't know what white trash we really are" LOLOLOL!! Just love it. tygftd.