I have been pruning my Facebook and Twitter friends lists and my blogroll lately. The reason for this is simple: I can’t take the friggin’ negativity any more. My god there seems to be a lot of down people on these interweb tubes. Is this limited to the social circles in which I travel or is there a prevailing wave of depression making it’s way through the U.S. these days?
“I need the purple pill (the one that makes you happy)” Just get the hell out of bed.
“I’m fat.” (Yeah? So am I. Stop eating.)
“No one looks at me.” (Stop being ugly on the inside!)
Listen, I know that a lot of people in this world have a lot of problems. And the gods know that I have bitched and bitched and bitched (like right now!) on this blog on more than a few thousand occasions but when Every. Single. Blog. Entry. or every twit, tweet or twat is about how horrible the world is because your clothes are too tight or the oil ran out of your car or your hairdresser bleached your hair too blond or you’re shocked I tell you, shocked because you just found out that a hamburger with cheese and bacon wrapped in roast beef is bad for you and you’re blue flunking it all becomes very, very tedious.
It’s dragging me down, baby.
You want something to bitch about? How about the fact that there is no cure for AIDS yet or that our government is spending money like a sailor in a whore house by throwing money in every direction hoping that something somewhere gets fixed or we are eating food that is undoubtedly going to fill us with cancer 30 years from now or that today’s kids will have no imagination because everything is being electronically fed to them. You want to complain? How about the dead Americans and Iraqis in a war that doesn’t seem to have an ending or what about all the men and women still sitting in their living room full of despair everyday because they lost a loved one. What about the way we shove our elderly into nursing homes or burn oil in these outrageous behemoths in the interest of having the biggest car (and smallest dick, apparently) on the block? I could go on and on and on about issues that have a national or even global effect.
I like writing fluff pieces here in this blog. (Hey Paula!) I also like writing the heavy stuff once in a while. And yes I do complain a lot. But goddamn it, life is not that bad and when it is, it’s probably going to be something that you’ll laugh and/or be embarrassed about 10 minutes from now anyways so for the love all that’s holy mix it up a little bit!
I am going to try to do something this weekend that I’m not sure I’m capable of doing. I am going to power down the iPhone and leave it in the drawer of my nightstand both Saturday and Sunday. My contact with the outside world will be with real human interaction. I’m not going to twit, tweet, FB or interact with anyone that isn’t either talking to me on the landline at the house or better yet engaging in a conversation face to face. I’m going to hike or go to the beach, chase storms, take pictures and spend time with my family and recall what life was about before I became so embroiled in this digital revolution that I forgot what the sun looked like and what a sunny disposition felt like. You want to talk, call me on the home phone and c’mon get happy about it. Better yet? Visit me!
Enough is enough. I’d break into song here but I can’t remember if I prefer the Barbra or Donna part.
Oh boy, let the hate mail begin…..but not from me. I couldn’t agree with you more. I mean, I know full well that everyone isn’t on the same journey or path or place in life….got it, have the t-shirt, yep I know you’re not. But it doesn’t change the fact that negativity breeds horrible crap in life. It doesn’t change the fact that toxic is exactly that. You’ve done a marvelous job of pointing out that the world is full of horrible things and that there is always someone worse off than ourselves. I get so tired of roller coasters, merry-go-rounds, and the like. I’m the first person to support anyone who needs it, who needs an ear, who needs to be listened to….but I won’t do it without a plan, a fresh direction, or a new way of doing things. Repeating bad behavior or the same old thing is going to get the same old results….that’s not tough to figure out. So, HERE HERE to you, J.P. Drama is not my middle name…..
My first time on your blog and I love it. Nice job!
As for “Enough”..I couldn’t agree with you more. There seems to be a “theme” of the “glass half empty, or half full” everywhere I look. It brings me down too.
I’m not into the “reality show” life either.
As someone who has lived close to HIV/AIDS, your comment couldn’t have hit closer to home and it certainly puts things into perspective for those who cant seem to find a way out of the daily crap.
We get one chance at this life (that I am aware of….) and I for one am not going to pitch a tent when my life makes a quick stop in the bottom of the valley….keep on keeping on I say!
Didn’t I hear a few months ago that the American Psychiatric Association now classifies Internet addiction as a mental disorder? I think we all have it, it one way or another. Be it web surfing, FB & Twitter, blogging, gaming, emailing. It all adds up to a problem.
But really, isn’t it just substituting one addiction for another? Instead of reading newspapers, we are reading the news on the internet. Instead of watching TV, we are getting our entertainment on the internet. Instead of talking to someone on a phone, we are ‘talking’ to them on the internet. Instead of listening to the radio, we are listening to our iPods. We are still doing the same things, just in a different way.
I like the experiment you are doing and I hope it goes well for you. Just what is is you think you are going to prove I don’t know. Tell us Monday what your thoughts are about the experience.
I’m willing to talk to you face to face, and I’m looking north east right now, but I can’t see 500 miles 🙁