UltimateInclusion.com, a blog from Teresa Jordan, Executive Director – There is a modern phenomenon that I am having trouble understanding. It is the comment feature of almost all social media and web interactions. It first came to my attention when I got up at 4:30 a.m. to watch Princess Eugenie’s wedding, which was only live streamed on You Tube. This experience was so different from watching the event on television … there were hundreds of comments being added by people around the world watching the ceremony, and so many of those were negative and hurtful.
I found this all so confusing because it was not like the old days of a massive broadcast that overtook all four channels at once so that we could have a speech from the Prime Minister. If you were watching this wedding, you had deliberately manipulated your web device to tune in. Then, in the midst of all the beauty, pomp and royal splendor, someone feels compelled to say, “Royals are relics and unwanted” or “Why does Princess Anne always scowl. ” And, as you can probably imagine, I am quoting the most pleasant comments – with the least swearing – of the stream.
Now I have noticed phenomenon everywhere … a platform to comment and an overwhelming amount of negativity as a result. What is the purpose of this? What does it serve to hop on the keyboard and add a little poison to the atmosphere? Surely, it can’t set one up for having a great day! No celebrity or royal is going to wake up, read it and wear it around until they change their ways, so what is the compulsion? I can’t imagine how much anger and pain is required to want to scoff into the worldwide web, knowing that it will not make one lick of difference.
Okay, so now I am being venomous. I guess I am just thinking about the serenity needed to accept things that we have no power over – and how this leads to peace. And about the courage to work to change things for the better that are within our span of control- and how this leads to peace. And, then of course, there’s wisdom of knowing that life is an echo and being critical of Fergie in the wee hours of the morning shall never boomerang back as joy in the afternoon. It’s that sending out of joy in the beginning that leads to peace.
Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com
UltimateInclusion.com 