Given Up Facebook

Given Up Facebook

Some of my friends have been contacting me with regards to my whereabouts, well-being or safety. My apologies for not announcing my actions beforehand.

Symbolic Sacrifice

Five Wednesdays ago (On March 5^th) my children approached me with a proposal. My daughter expressed that she was voluntarily giving up drinking juice and my son subsequently proclaimed that he was giving up playing his Playstation 4. Why did they choose to sacrifice two things that were quite dear to them?  Well because it was lent, the period of time that reflects solidarity with Jesus spending 40 days and 40 nights fasting in the wilderness. They figured if he could do that, not to mention the fact that he subsequently gave his life, then doing without things that they love is the least they could do as a symbolic sacrifice.

So after explaining their actions, they turned to me and asked, “So Dad, what are you giving up for Lent?  With a smirk on my face, I coyly turned to them and said, “ I think I will give up paying bills.” At first they were astonished with dropped jaws and dilated eyeballs, but they quickly recovered and said, come on Dad, quit playing around. So I asked them what do you think I should give up? They had a spontaneous answer as if it were all premeditated. “We think you should give up Facebook” They thought they had hit the holy grail of my entire existence, the ultimate sacrifice. SMH… You see, they have over the last two years watch me exert countless hours on my computer and have incorrectly assumed that the vast majority of it was tied to Facebook. That could not be further from the truth, since I know that over 90% of my time is spent creating and maintaining a vision I have had for sometime now. Nevertheless social media like Facebook is intimately linked to what I am creating and its association is certainly not frivolous, it actually carries responsibilities that cannot be neglected indefinitely. I guess the only analogy I can think of would be something similar to a viable fortune 500 company being asked to give up their networking, marketing or advertising for 40 days. That would be quite a sacrifice wouldn’t it? That would certainly cripple some companies, especially start ups. Nevertheless it pales in comparison to the sacrifice of life...

The Man That Inspired Them

Anyway, I don’t want to make this short story a long one. I just want to respectfully inform all my friends that I rose to the challenge put forward by my compassionate children and told them that I would give up Facebook for the period of lent. It is the least I can do to not only honor their wishes while simultaneously honoring the man that inspired them by sacrificing so much more. It appears that I have taught my kids, better than I have taught myself. So to answer those concerned about my M.I.A. status… I am OK. Thank you for even caring to ask. I did not expect my absence to be noticed.

Important Commandment

My favorite commandment of the ten is “Love thy neighbor as you love thyself,” I am pretty sure the other 9 will fall into place if you do that. May we all use this period to reflect upon these things, as well as our principles and our teachings in our continious quest to be better human beings.~ SO Murray

Love and Light

Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for—because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.

Prayers Offered by the Chaplain, the Rev. Peter Marshall at the opening of the session, April 18, 1947.… 1947–1948, p. 20 (1949). Senate Doc. 80–170.

~~Peter Marshall (1902–67) Senate Chaplain