So, this person that I highly respect told me that you have to have a blog and get hooked into all the social networking. I'm pretty much accustomed to Facebook, but I've found it to be a two-edged sword. You know, it's sooo cool to troll around and find out what everyone is doing -- from elementary friends to current co-workers -- and then one day you realize: heck, that person's life is so much more interesting and fulfilling than mine. Did the kids I used to babysit really just buy their own home and are starting on their third child, while having just come back from a trip around Europe?
It goes without saying that it's super easy to become either self-satisfied or self-loathing when comparing yourself to all of your "friends" on Facebook. "At least I don't have THAT kind of trouble. Or, glad I still have my hair. Or even, how could he put something so ignorant as his status?" If I feel good about myself for even a moment, all I have to do is scroll down the home page and see the 21-year-old flashing her gorgeous engagement ring in the perfectly-posed, natural-looking, randomly-casual pics on the rusted out railroad tracks downtown -- you know what I mean -- or, look at all those 20-30 somethings living in Dubai like royalty while teaching the arts or babysitting the rich and famous' off-spring.
But, that begs a bigger question: why do I feel like my life is churning in place while everyone else is moving forward?
Ummm ... too many answers to that question, I'm sure. Instead, I think I'm just going to start enjoying what IS in my life and be a bit more fastidious about looking around and appreciating my current surroundings. I've always been taught -- or just osmossed-in and imagined I was taught -- the idea that knowledge changes everything. But it's more than that. Knowledge is where we begin, but it changes us by how we use it. I realize this isn't deep, I don't claim to have anything deeper than the shallow end of the pool going on at any given moment. But, it's truth. And, believe it or not, truth is freeing. So, here we go: seekers of knowledge (no matter how small or insignificant), admirers of beauty (no matter how flawed the eye beholding it) and lovers of randomness -- it's ON!
P.S. I'm always impressed by the people on Facebook who purposely post "ugly" pics of themselves. Confident or oblivious souls, they are -- or maybe more grounded than the rest of us.
