The Real Racists

People who somehow manage to make everything about "race" are actually the real "racists." All the rest of us are just ordinary people with pretty much the same set of basic human foibles and all too human problems that everybody else just plain tends to have. Real "racists," therefore, are actually people who are obsessed with using skin color and/or ethnicity to control and dominate others. So beware, because this particular Will don't play that game. Not with anyone.

Pretty Profiles, Pretty Pictures, and a Few Plug Nickels, Too

You see, there's a point one gets to when you just don't really care anymore, whether someone "friends" or "unfriends" you on social media. Because these days, that's just how it works. Meaning that the whole paradigm of friendship essentially no longer means nearly as much as it used to anyway. Well, not on social media, it doesn't.

In fact, what really matters the very most in this Life is who you can actually touch. No, not necessarily "touch" in the sense of being able to physically reach out and embrace someone or other, but rather, whose Life you may be able to affect in a positive and meaningful way. Or perhaps even someone who may be able to help you yourself in that regard in return. You know, when the chips are down. When you, or they, literally have no one else to turn to.

Because you see, having a big old "friend list," full of all those... those names... the names of people that one could not even possibly even speak to on a regular basis (or they to you) doesn't make anyone rich, powerful, or even necessarily all that influential. Heck! Some of your "friends" may even be laughing at you. And not the good kind of laughing, which is with you, and not at you.

And that right there is often just how "social" media interactions, and most classic human acquaintanceships, really just plain work anyway, silly! You see, even and especially nowadays, with the big, fancy Internet, people can easily "follow," "hide" from, or even outright ignore your posts and shared content at any time of their choosing. They can even block you altogether, and that, as they say, is that. Out of sight, out of mind.

Or... they might also just humor you, by "liking" every other thing you post. Psst! All of us fancy "connected" folks, we're all sitting behind "personal" computers, you know. So nobody is really beholden to anybody else. And nobody really has to give a crap about absolutely anything anyone says or does. Well... unless you're in someone's immediate family, or you happen to be a co-worker or something of that nature.

So you see, these days, people don't even have to "unfriend" you to actually kinda... well, hate your stinking guts. Or even just dislike you. In most cases, just like a good old fashioned "plug nickel," they'll be more than happy to keep you around, just in case they happen, at some point down the line, to find an old fashioned slot machine that will readily accept you in trade.

Believe me, you'll be just fine down in someone's trusty back pocket, with all the more or less useless lint and spare petty change that can be discarded on a mere whim at any time of their random choosing. And that's just where many of us tend to sit. Until, or even if that is, someone in your social media circle should ever have need of you. And yes, it really is a sad way to look at social media "friendship," but that's just how most human relationships often really tend to be, whether you're a relative, a lifelong friend, etc., etc., etc., notwithstanding.

And then, sadly, it's even worse for those folks who don't even have that much going for them. They don't even have blood relatives who even like them enough to have anything at all do with them whatsoever in the first place. So when everybody else is getting together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or being invited to a wedding... well, there's so much of a nasty feud brewing in the very bloodlines of the so-called "family," that some people just don't ever get invited to share that "fellowship" anyway. And worse yet, there are even some you're afraid to invite yourself!

And that is how some people end up on the street. Or in the gutter. On the side of the road. All the people all the rest of us lucky ones tend to have to try to ignore on our way to work. Or, even when we're out Christmas shopping, looking for pretty papers and pretty ribbons of blue. You know, for all those important people on that big, fancy, all consuming "social" list of names. And names. And names. And quite often, not very much else of any true and lasting substance.

But I guess that's just people for ya.

If no good deed goes unpunished

If it is true that, "No good deed goes unpunished," then surely, no good intention is left underappreciated, misunderstood, or outright rejected and scorned.

Choose your battles carefully

Choose your battles carefully, and your opponents even more so, for one never knows when a frequent foe might suddenly become the most powerful of allies; especially when confronted by a mutual enemy.

Ode to Facebook "Friendship"

Hey. It's me. You know, that guy. What's his name. That guy. That relative, that friend, acquaintance, former classmate, ex-coworker, yet another here-today-and-gone-tomorrow social media group member, or... maybe just another doting, sycophantic "Top Fan" Facebook page follower, etc, etc, etc.

Whatever the case may in fact be, if I "unfriended" you on Facebook recently (or even within the past several years or so), I'm terribly sorry, but I honestly didn't hear from you very often, so I guess I just gradually came to the conclusion that, for whatever reason, I simply wasn't significant enough to bother with most of the time. No big deal though. I mean, who really has time these days for all these electronic "friends" and connections anyway, right?

So, now that I'm down to just a handful of people left on my Facebook "friend" list, although some might say I've burned one too many bridges, I'm afraid I just don't see it that way at all. Because as far as I'm concerned, I didn't actually burn any bridges. I just finally stopped trying to cross most of them.

So I guess what I'm really saying is that unless I'm blocking you for whatever reason, I most likely still like or even love you. I'm just simply not walking even half way across that damn bridge anymore. Not for you anyway. Not anymore. I'm simply no longer going to even bother to waste even one more valuable minute of my time on such clearly fruitless endeavors. I mean, why should I?

So there you have it. So I no longer have a long list of so-called friends on fancy social media anymore, but then... I'm now pretty sure I never really had all that many genuine friends to begin with anyway. So is there really any love lost? I mean, really?

Whatever the case may in fact be, I'm sure that if you ever even do bother to remember little old me, should you happen to stop by my Timeline for a quick visit, you probably won't be here long, and probably not even long enough to scroll far enough down to see this particular message.

And even if you do, you probably won't even bother to read the whole thing. And that's okay, really. I wish you well. I sincerely, really, honestly do. God bless. Happy trails, adiós, adieu, arrivederci, ciao, sayonara, bon voyage, Auf Wiedersehen and... well, all that. Until we meet again. Or... did we ever? Really? Hmm. I guess we'll never really know for sure, will we?

The True Face of "Social" Media

Psst! If you should happen to see something on my Facebook page that's politically (entertainment, or even religiously) oriented, it may be that I'm "making a statement," and thereby wish to influence either you or a slew of others to embrace my own particular point of view.

Or... it may just be that by sharing certain content (pro, con, or anything in between) that I'm actually just taking note of a number of current social and, yes, political trends that are, sometimes, little more than outright, bald-faced propaganda and lies. I mean, come on, kids! That's often just how the so-called "modern" media works, you know.

However, if you should happen to come across something I've shared over on Manipulationbook... err... Facebook, it does not necessarily mean that I fully endorse any of the prominently featured public figures who tend to blather on and on about various "causes célèbre," or that I even buy into most of the blatantly biased political narratives and shameless agendas that may be reflected in the "news" content that one tends to see on so-called "social" media.

In fact, all of the above may simply suggest that what you may come across on my Facebook "Timeline" merely indicates that I'm fully aware (more or less) of what's going on in most of the world around me. Alas, however, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm 100% on board with absolutely everything that tends to be disseminated on a daily basis by any particular faction of the often Fake Media.

Again, it just means that I'm aware of what's going on. And sure, I'm no fence sitter. I'm definitely a conservative thinker in most regards. But then again, I'm no blind follower either. So please, do bear that in mind, before you come to any definitive conclusions about me, or... well, anything or anybody else either for that matter.

Because in the Real World, what you see, read, or hear (or even just think you see, read, or hear) is not necessarily the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. Not always anyway. And certainly not in the Real World, it ain't.

Forgiveness

Some people actually thrive on demanding repeated, shamelessly obligatory "forgiveness." In fact, they need you (me, everyone, really) to good-naturedly overlook their serial transgressions and outright abuse like a vampire needs to force its prey to "donate" even more precious, life-sustaining hemoglobin.

The problem is, however, that most of us normal, healthy human beings only have just so much to give. And I for one just plain ran out of veins to self sacrificially crack open a very, very long time ago. Yes, we should all learn how to genuinely forgive with all our hearts, of course, but you don't have to forget. Not if you don't want to become yet another serial victim, that is.

So whatever you do, please remember that you don't owe anyone a pint of blood (real or psychic) today, or any stinking day of the week, month, or year either. Not ever. Unless you truly, genuinely want to donate blood or plasma, of course. But for that, all one really need do is visit their local chapter of the Red Cross, which is of course something altogether different to begin with.

Either way, I do sincerely believe with all my heart and soul that Jesus Christ really did die for the sins of all mankind (and was subsequently resurrected on the third day). And that means for absolutely everyone everywhere, for all time, past, present, and future notwithstanding. So that's why I also do not believe for even a single millisecond that I, or anyone else for that matter, should be preyed upon by any serially abusive person.

Because Christ already did that for us. All of us.

So if you really do fancy yourself a true "Christian," and you've interpreted the Gospels otherwise (that we should forgive and keep on serially suffering for this or that demonic creep in the guise of a "friend," family member, spouse, etc., etc.), well that might actually just be your very own personal problem. Yes, that may just be your very own flawed, perhaps poorly educated misunderstanding of the genuine Word of God.

And maybe, just maybe, you really ought to take a good long look in the mirror at anyone, absolutely anyone, especially yourself, who honestly thinks that Jesus Christ wasn't truly man and God enough to have fixed that particular, pre-Christian era problem (with every last drop of his sacred blood, and terrible, prolonged suffering) so that he could fulfill what had long before been written, so that He could do just exactly as our Heavenly Father planned from the very beginning, and finally, so that He would therefore truly be with us, "even until the end of the age."

So by all means, we really should forgive all those who trespass against us, just as they really ought to in turn forgive our trespasses against them, but you'll never get me to buy into the clearly predatory notion that God actually intended for absolutely any of his beloved children to suffer unnecessarily if any one of us might serve as the instrument of God, and thereby intercede on His behalf. And that includes us interceding for ourselves in time of great need, if need be.

Because isn't that ultimately why we are all planted down here in the humble mud of Planet Earth in the first place? I mean, if we're not here to help each other (and sometimes, perhaps selfishly, help ourselves as well), then what, I humbly ask, are we actually here for? Only for our very own self gratification, and all others be damned? Uh-uh, no. I think... not. Definitely not. 

So even though we really shouldn't (under normal circumstances) seek revenge to punish our persecutors, and we don't even have to hold onto all that pain, we certainly must be entitled to a certain degree of self protection.

But sure, when it comes to all that personal pain, sure, if we can, we really should just let it go. Let it all go. Because it was never ours to hold onto to begin with. Which, believe me, I know, speaking from my own personal experience, just like so many others who've also been mistreated by various people throughout the course of their lives, all of the above is always so much easier said than done, isn't it?

But with a little (or even a whole lot of) effort, if we really can find it in our hearts to truly forgive, and then just walk away, having learned a thing or two from the hard lessons we were unfortunately forced to learn from being abused by others, then we really should consider ourselves lucky to have survived the ordeal.

Because now, by embracing the true blessings of forgiveness, we're finally free. Free at last, to treat the next person whom we may someday have the misbegotten opportunity to harm in a much better way than how we ourselves were mistreated by key figures in our past lives.

Because as far as I'm concerned, the true test of any human being is how we choose to wield our own personal power. In other words, if you were just a defenseless little child when some so-called "adult" figure, who may have just been on an all too typically childish tirade, chose to use their temporary power over you to get revenge for something or another that an equally misguided so-called "adult" did to them way back in their own troubled past, then what they deliberately chose to do to you says a whole lot more about them than it does about you. Doesn't it?

Thus, in the final analysis, we are all forced to make all sorts of choices, great and small, throughout the course of our lives. For we all possess varying degrees of personal power to either repeat (and thereby pass on) the Cycle of Abuse, or... we can deliberately choose to put a stop to it all. We can literally and finally say to ourselves, "The buck stops here." So we can finally well and truly take a stand, and not unconscionably simply "pass the buck" onto the next generation. And that particular personal choice, right there, my dear readers, is what ultimately makes one a truly good human. Or not.