Paying for School

My ongoing adventures in life and the pursuit of more...

Friday, February 3, 2017

Withdrawals and Deposits

I’m a few days in to my withdrawal from reading and commenting on anything beyond pictures of cats and the personal posts of a few friends on Facebook.  I’m not even indulging much in the passively supportive blue thumbs up. And I have to tell you, I am feeling lighter, happier, more optimistic and positive about the future and life in general.  Churchill’s black dog has moved outside to the porch again and it feels good.

But I’m feeling weak this morning. I may or may not have the withdrawal shakes (possibly coffee induced). There is a strong temptation to start commenting on current events and the lies and “misstatements” that keep popping up in the news. The thing is, these statements are almost instantly verifiable now and the general lack of interest in the veracity of a statement made by high ranking government officials in this post-truth era is overwhelming. What keeps me clean and sober is the knowledge that pointing out one falsehood will be – almost – immediately met by a comment like, “Oh, and you don’t think ____________ told/tells lies…?” fill in the blank with Obama, Clinton (either Mr. or Mrs.) or CNN. So I’ll keep my nose clean for now and pour myself another glass of cat videos and sniff a few clever memes about TGIF.

The deposits I’m finding of peace and lightness – yes, maybe the byproduct of denial – don’t bring me down, man! – are worth it.  Clean and sober. One day at a time. One day at a time.

My modified prayer for today:

God grant me the serenity 
To accept the things I cannot change; 
Courage to change the things I can; 
And wisdom to know the difference
And the sanity not post about it. 

Living one day at a time; 
Without reading political posts today;
Enjoying one moment at a time; 
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
Taking, as He did, this sinful world 
As it is, not as I would have it; 
Trusting that He will make all things right 
If I surrender to His Will; 
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life 
And supremely happy with Him 
Forever and ever in the Kingdom coming. 

Amen.

4 comments:

  1. Sometime soon I want to write up my apology for FB interaction. I am really happy to hear that you have found a practice that is working for you and I genuinely hope that you will be able to stick with it. For myself though I keep running into the fact that misinformation isn't harmless. Maybe it is because I work with teemagers so much but I still believe that the tendency to tell ourselves (not suggesting that this is the reason behind your decision) that it is fine to ignore lies on FB which we would feel compelled to correct if our friends and acquaintances usstered or shared in real life, is mistaken. I think this means that we need to do a whole lot of reflecting and praying about how to engage in love online.
    But as a bit of testimony: contrary to the common narratove, I have had many people inform me (usually by private message) that my defending them, defending them, defending the truth, made a significant difference in either their outlook, or their experience of acceptance within a particular community. So my own life experience has thus far undermined the conventional wisdom that FB debate doesn't help anyone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Bill. You tempt me, sir. If I had no other place to speak up, I would endure with FB. For me, my trouble is less with what I post and more with what I read on FB for now. Thanks for jumping in!

      Delete
  2. Short CNC machining shots are typically categorised as a serious defect that may inhibit the operate or look of the molded half. Flow traces appear as a wavy sample typically of a barely totally different color than the encompassing space and generally on narrower sections of the molded element. They may appear as ring-shaped bands on a product’s surface near the entry factors of the mould, or “gates”, which the molten materials flows through.

    ReplyDelete