I posted a meme comparing a quote from Hitler to a quote from Hilary Clinton. I'm sure most of you have seen it, but if you haven't, I apologize, but I'm not going to repost it again. It's very negative and apparently very offensive to at least one person that I know.
I think the saddest part is the fact that he thinks his friendship didn't mean much to me just because we haven't seen each other in about 20 years. What he fails to realize is that it did mean a lot. He was one of the first people I met at college and I always admired him for many different reasons.
While I didn't realize that the meme that I shared would be that disastrous to any friendships that I have, it was a very negative post and that leads me to today's blog post.
While I think the whole thing got totally blown out of proportion and I think he took extremely drastic measures to not only unfriend me, but he also blocked me completely. On top of that, he also made a post on his Facebook page specifically naming me (which most people have the courtesy to only give first names or no names at all, such as I'm doing, but I suppose he feels the need to do so) and showing a screenprint of part of the conversation. Although at first, it upset me, upon further reflection, I realized that the whole event has made me think a lot about myself and my actions. I would like to publicly apologize for any offense that I may have made against him, I certainly didn't share the meme with that goal in mind. And I would like to thank him. Without his drastic measures, I would not have taken stock in myself.
As I said, this was bound to happen... losing a friend, that is... considering that I'm a Christian, that, in and of itself is offensive to many people. And I'm a Mormon (a member of The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... no, not the people on tv with the multiple wives. Those people are not members of our church.) and being Mormon offends a whole bunch of other people. I lost a lot of friends when I joined the church, but that's a whole other story.
But, as I said, this whole issue has made me really look at myself and the kind of person I want to be. At first, I was upset that he posted (after blocking me and thinking that I wouldn't find out) his disgruntled response and posting my full name. But then, I realized that I'd done the same thing to Hilary. While she's a politician and is probably used to such demeaning memes and comments, that doesn't mean it was right for me to do.
I'm no politician, but I'm also used to derogatory and nasty statements, having received more than my fair share as a kid, but they hurt just as much now as they did when I was younger. So, I also would like to apologize to Hilary. No, I don't think she should be president and no I don't particularly like her nor her politics, but I certainly don't want to hurt her or anyone else for that matter. Do I think she actually saw my post? Ppffftthhh, no, of course not, but I don't need to keep the negativity going. And if I'm a Christian, then why would it be ok for me to post such a nasty meme? It's not.
Does that mean that I won't hurt anyone again? No, I'm sure I'll do something at some point to offend someone again. Like I said, I'm a Christian and a Mormon, so right off the bat, I'm offensive to thousands and thousands of people just for breathing.
But I have come to realize that I need to be more positive and stay away from as much negativity as I can. So I have decided to make a #PursuitOfPositivePosts Challenge. For the next 30 days, I'm going to try to post, share, and make only positive posts on any and all social media that I get on.
So, it begins.... Positive Posts! Who's with me? Post a comment below and let me know if you're up for the challenge to bring positive posts to the world and have a better outlook on life.
Remember the hashtag!
#PursuitOfPositivePosts
