Emotions

 This cold has been a bad one. I thought I got past the worst of it only to discover that I haven't.  The cough is horrible. 

So...it has been another quiet week.

One thing I discovered is that it is possible to share FB posts to IM without realizing it. I have conservative Christian and Christian Nationalist family members. 

We simply don't talk politics, but it gets very tricky. What I have discovered is that very suddenly politics encompass a lot more territory than it used to. For instance, my nephew had some very strong opinions of a religious leader. I countered with how what he was saying did not align with biblical teachings. He got very angry and accused me of arguing my politics. I said that I thought we were discussing a religious figure. 

It didn't help that I thought I was 'snoozing' him. I figured we would both benefit from a break. It turned out that I had blocked him, which made things worse. He blocked me back.

Last week, out of the blue, I got a message from my sister about two articles she had received from me via instant message. I was astonished to see that there were two of those highly charged over the top things along the line of 'Trump humiliated when....' and 'GOP demolished after...'. 

The thing is I don't even read crap like that myself. When I see all caps and exclamation points in a headline, I assume that it is something that is designed to draw you in emotionally. I am more of a 'just the facts' type of a person. As in, I want to read it and decide how I feel about it, as opposed to getting the emotions decided for me. Those headlines are designed to attract the eye of angry people who read along angrily muttering and angrily share the angry post  which is read by other angry people who read it angrily muttering.

That's some bullshit, isn't it?

Anyways, I read my sister's message and she was mad. I didn't blame her either. It was a disrespectful thing to do. The difference was that I knew I had never intentionally sent them. She believed I had. 

I began reading. During their last upgrade/change, FB added a feature called 'auto share'. People don't like it. It seems to be something that is easily activated unintentionallywhen you are quickly scrolling through FB. This is something I do when I am looking for a funny picture to go on the  blog. 

(So it is your faults really)

I sent the information to my sister who luckily believed it. I apologized for the offense. I promised to be mindful. I also noted that emotions are very near the surface everywhere.

My oldest daughter is a person whose emotions are very near the surface. The Epstein stuff has been very triggering for her. In talking about things, she decided that after some very strident posts from a relative, she was not sure about attending the family Easter. After all, she has posted some pretty strident stuff herself.

In the end, she and her husband decided to have their own quiet Easter. 

I respect that decision, but it left me in a hard place. In the end, Tim and I decided to celebrate where our grandson will be. I know that decision will be seen as political. It isn't. It is based on emotion, pure emotion. It will cause hurt feelings though. 

So that is where I am, right now. I am still sick. I am just weary. I don't sleep well. It is not covid though.

I did not go to the No Kings Protest, which made me very sad. I wanted to be there. Tim went and he carried my sign 'Ain't no faux king way!' What a turn out we had! Estimates of between 320-350, quite a turn out for a town of 9500 people. Tim said that there was huge support from the people passing by, too.

3300 events around the world, drawing an estimated 8 million people. The organizers really stressed that the biggest growth was seen in red, rural areas that had supported trump in the last election. The tide is turning. I was at home on the couch, probably sound asleep.

There was a terrible tragedy here on Friday in our Amish community in Spartansburg. An Amish school was burned to the ground when two girls and their teacher had lit a lantern which had been filled with the wrong fuel. It exploded. The girls were life flighted to burn centers, one to Buffalo, the two others to Pittsburgh. Their burns were described as severe, noting that their clothing had been entirely burnt away. 

There have been no updates on them. The community has collected money for the families. One person (English, not Amish) posted that two of the girls were on their way home and exhorted us all to give the glory to God. I will hold my glory. When someone has been burned over that percentage of their body, they are not likely to be released the next day.