UPENDED, OFFENDED, & UNFRIENDED

THREE PEOPLE HAVE UNFRIENDED YOU was the message that flashed across my computer screen. "ONLY THREE!" was my initial reaction. I've unfriended more people than that myself!

I've often joked that I was the last person to get on Facebook. I really wasn't crazy about the idea.  I'm not someone who enjoys socializing. I am also on LinkedIn which is strictly business and I prefer it that way.

On Facebook as with LinkedIn, many of my contacts are acquaintances I've met thru business networking events. But the majority consists of total strangers! Friend is a misnomer! Some I call faux friends, others I refer to as phantoms. Too many are just disembodied floating heads to the right of my screen. I may as well be gazing into a crystal ball and communicating with spirits. Images are there, but the actual person is a mystery. The spirit may be good or bad.

If I recall correctly, I have over 200 “Friends” yet only a small circle of about 4 to 6 are regular posters to my Timeline, 2 of those live in foreign countries. Actually I would be content with just those few. I'm always threatening to do a mass unfriending. (And I still might!) However, friends caution against it because I need exposure for my books.

Often I wonder how many are blocking me. Personally, I would never block anyone. I much prefer unfriending! My favorite targets are those annoying people who are after me to play games. (As if Facebook isn’t already a big time waster!) Also I deep-six those foreign men who are ringing me up within five minutes of accepting their invitations. I feel as if I’m being set up for something. I’m always suspicious when someone gets familiar too fast. My knee-jerk reaction is to push them off a cliff!

To be honest, I find most of the personal conversations, photos, etc. on Facebook boring. It’s the Community Pages that intrigue me. Many are filled with beauty and majesty. I could literally spend hours as a voyeur.   

Recently, I was unfriended by one in my small circle of regulars, a local person. At first it seemed out of the blue! But then I retraced my steps. I believe I know why! -- It was NOT over something I posted on my Timeline or theirs. It wasn't even something I said, but a poster on a Community Page that I marked as LIKE! And I know this was the reason, because wham, I was unfriended right after!

The poster that got me unfriended compared having a religion to having a penis. “It’s OK to have one,” it said, “even OK to be proud of it. But you don't go whipping it out in public or forcing it on children. “-- I thought this was hilarious! Also I agree!

The person who unfriended me, had religious proselytizing all over their Timeline. Not to mention ugly & hateful anti-Obama propaganda. This former friend was aware I voted for the man twice! I made no secret of that! Yet I always pretended never to notice even if it left a bad taste in my mouth! Plus I’m turned off by those who wear their religion like a cheap necklace.

My long-time dear friend Margaret had a religious streak. However, she was never fanatical about it. (Her Christmas cards were usually humorous.) But on occasion, she would quote scripture verses at me. And I would tell her to knock it off!

"But I want you to go to Heaven," she would say.

"How do you know I'm not? Are you God?" I'd snap back. "And how can you be so sure your religion is the right one? Perhaps after you're dead you might discover you've been worshiping the wrong god your entire life!"

There are plenty of religions out there. And every single one believes theirs is the ONLY true one.  And worse, no one is willing to consider the possibility they could be wrong. To quote Gandhi, "God has no religion." However, according to Christian beliefs, Gandhi is in Hell (He’s a heathen!) along with a lot of other good people.

Margaret and I disagreed on a variety of issues. We were as different as we were similar, yet our friendship was unconditional.