Try to not pay attention to the screaming baby in the corner, just try

I wrote yesterday that a friend called me out for removing a hurricane warning he’d posted on my Facebook wall.  His point was he was merely doing a massive shout out for prayers to divert the storm.  My point was the storm posed no threat, so why even mention it?  Putting something on my wall is like painting the words on the side of my house.  Paint whatever you want on the side of your own house, but when people drive by my house, I want them only to see the messages I want them to see.  

What’s written on the wall plants an idea in the minds of people that see it.  A feel good message gives a different feeling than a warning.  “Warning” about something is like someone walking into a classroom of mothers with their infants, except this mother’s infant has its arm ripped off and it’s squirting blood and he’s screaming and the Mother is telling the others:  “This does not have to be your experience.  You can create a different reality.” Not so easy to do, is it, when you’ve had such a strong image splashed in your face, with the attendant sound and emotions?  “This doesn’t have to be your experience.” And yet it’s more likely to be their experience NOW than before she walked into their class.

Now it’s been brought to their attention that something they never thought about is a real possibility.  Now they think, maybe for the first time, “this might happen to me.”   Now they have something startling to recall vividly and consider over and over again as possibly their future experience.   No matter what she said afterward.  Kind of like telling the jury to disregard a statement they heard the witness make.   They now give greater importance to the statement than they may have otherwise.   They are certainly not going to disregard it, because now it is prominent in their mind.  She’s highlighted it for them.  So, placing on my Wall a warning about a story that my intuition (and the hurricane forecast) tells me is no threat, is simply bringing a screaming baby into the room for no reason.

When I’m on Facebook, I’m there for relaxation, winding down and fun.  I appreciate my many activist friends, but I hide their posts about animal cruelty, political unrest, and media reports about the economy.  I am on the relaxation segment of my day,  not the bad news gathering segment.  I am looking for things to please me and make me smile and feel connected.  I know animal cruelty exists.  I don’t feel it’s my job in this lifetime to tackle that cause.  It does not please me to read about it.  What I want on my wall are things that please me and make me smile so hopefully others can smile and be happy for a moment as well.  I like to string together as many of those moments as I can.  So, when someone posts a “warning” on my Facebook wall, I’ll read it before deciding to keep or delete it.  And yes, all screaming babies will be deleted.