Archive for December, 2011

Growing Some Balls

Posted by on Friday, 16 December, 2011

The elephant above is the mascot of my blog.  She’s not dead, she’s very much living, and connected to her Mother.  She has everything in life to look forward to, and she’s currently coddled in her Mother’s Womb.  She has One Desire To Grow.  “Starting with one desire to grow, the path is laid with seeds we sow”.

This is very appropriate for this post, as it starts with the FIERCE LOVE that Mothers feel and their desire to protect all children.  It’s simply biological.

Recently my Sister-in-Law sparked a debate on her Facebook page about a controversial sleep training method for children.  She does not believe in the method, and was posting backup articles for her case.  She was hoping to have a civil debate on the topic, and of course I joined in.

I was on the other side, but I wanted to hear more about everyone’s views.  A few of her friends posted their beliefs and experiences (brief) but one in particular just wanted to show her distaste for my Sister’s opinion, offering no back-up or personal experience.  Several posts later she posted that her husband told her she shouldn’t have joined in on such a controversial subject.  WHY???  I understand that Facebook is supposed to be a social network… but does that mean it’s limited to shallow postings about where you’re eating, or photos of your dog?

I personally would like to see more postings where I get to know the people that I love and care about more.  I’m happy to know how my Sister feels about important topics.  Why is that considered controversial?

My husband and I had a long drive and a great conversation about friends.  Who do you love, who could you lose and not miss if you moved away, and why?  I came to the conclusion that what was important to me in a friend was not the length of friendship, but the quality of that friendship.  I based that quality on two important qualities: the ability to be deep and discuss your opinions, and the ability to also be fun and silly.  Lots of my friends on Facebook fell into one or the other category.  Totally deep, but no fun.  Totally silly but can’t be deep or is afraid to share.  There were only about 5 we could list that could do both – and they are amazing people.  THOSE are the people I want to be friends with.

About two months ago I started posting a lot of status updates about animals, animal shelters, helping those in need, sharing, caring, etc.  I was so sad to discover that out of my 209 Facebook friends (friends that I filtered out fairly well) I was only getting thumbs up from a few people each time.  Sometimes no comments.  Those people were my Aunt, my Mom, my Sister-in-Law, and a random friend or two.  When I posted silly photos, or a sale of Cat Shoes at Macy’s, I got 10 comments.  WHY???  This really annoyed me.  Here were subjects that were of utmost importance to me, and they were being ignored.  Not even a thumbs up.  I thumbs up people all the time – for everything.  It’s a click.  It’s a “Hey, I feel ya”, not some type of financial commitment or debate.

I have always been pretty selective about who I hang out with, and here I was feeling dissed by 200 people – not just acquaintances but also my good friends.  Then I started thinking hard about who my friends are…. and when I checked out their Facebook pages, how many of them were having meaningful conversations?  Not many.

Facebook has the power to make change, we’ve witnessed it over and over again all year.  Where are those people?  I know about 2 people that frequently support causes on Facebook.  Does that mean I only have 2 real friends that give a shit?

Grow some balls people.  Talk about your causes, make change.  Remember when I said I was accepting blankets for donation to the animal shelter? You don’t even have to drive it there or see their sad faces.  Please just care about something.  Please.  Then share it.

New Blog

Posted by on Friday, 16 December, 2011

I have very little spare time, but I was compelled to start a blog.  My hope is that one day I will have the time and means to start a non-profit that can make big changes in the world.  If my posts make you feel the same way and you’d like to be a contributor, please let me know.

This blog will cover a wide range of topics – all the things that I care about in life.  They will all have one thing in common – One Desire To Grow.