Modern Technology. Gotta love it.

With today's technology it gets easier and easier to communicate with those around us.  Sometimes thats a good thing.  I work out of town a lot and texting on my cell phone and chatting on facebook have allowed me to keep in touch with those back home.  Texting is a big thing for me since my deaf 83 year old grandmother has gotten a cell phone.  We are able to have a conversation without me shouting or repeating everything I say several times.  I do still call her once a week but during those calls I basically let her talk to me.  I just listen. 

That brings us to Facebook.  I enjoy the games and chatting with friends.  However, I am finding myself more and more appalled by the language and posts of others.  I have young nieces who are using fowl language and dropping the "F" word like they are saying hello.  Auntie lets them know that this is inappropriate behavior but they do not listen as it continues to happen.  It seems if one friend posts something even remotely negative about someone then it becomes this long 20+ comment post and people bicker back and forth.  Is this really necessary? 

Example: A friend had some issues with drugs and alcohol years ago.  During this time he had two daughters with whom he had little to no contact with.  The respective mothers raised the girls on their own.  He has since made drastic changes in his life and is doing very well.  He has been clean for several years and owns his own business.  Is he perfect definitely not is he better than he was?  Yes.  His daughters are now 15 and 19.  Recently they have looked up their father and he was estatic to have them back in his life.  In the last few days something seems to have changed.  Posts and comments have gone back and forth between the daughters, one of the mothers and himself.  They tear him down and he tries to defend himself.  That causes more comments and more posts.  The most recent one, from the mother of the younger daughter, aired more dirty laundry than I cared to know about my friend.  Whether the things are true or not I don't know and it really is not my business.  what I do know is these things true or not should not be aired on facebook.  He choose to not make rude or derogatory comments about anyone.  I do think though he should have just ignored the posts.  Him continuing to comment on the posts only encouraged the others to rant.  And before you ask, I did tell him just that.  I chose to text him so as not to cause more drama.  I told him I thought he should stop commenting and just let it go.  Those of us who know him have forgiven him for mistakes he has made.  He is a good man with a good heart and we love him.

I hope for his daughters sake they will give him a chance so they can experience the man we know and love.  If they did I am sure they would feel the same way.  For his sake I hope he is able to stop defending himself and do what he can to mend the relationships with his daughters.