Having A Life

You know, most people who read posts on message boards and on blogs like this one, might get the idea that this is all we are...all that our life holds. For most of us, that just isn't the fact. Long before this Internet thingy became the highway for exchange of information, people lived and worked and loved and created, laughed and cried. It's still true.

This blog and my adoption-related and other Internet activism and support groups are just a part of my life. I have a husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, a huge extended family of in-laws and I have been blessed with some very good friends.

We go to the doctors with our aches and pains (Hubby has an incurable gastric disease that acts up occasionally, and I am currently suffering the agony of losing de teeth), we plan our financial futures, we go out to eat, we watch movies (may I recommend 'The Golden Compass"...all about free thought), and plant petunias in our front yard. We laugh and play and cuddle at night. We worry over my stubborn 93-year-old Mother-in-law and save pictures of the little ones so we can print them out and frame them. We are planning a move and retirement...all part of a normal life.

I think that the Internet can, at times, constrict the view of other people, and make a lot of folks tend to see one-dimensional beings, ripe for harassment, argument and abuse. The very anonymity of the Internet makes it a playground for bullies and verbal abusers. I know that there are a lot of people who just love to do the "hit and run" thing...posting something nasty on a blog or a message board, anonymously, and then heading for other sites, looking for victims. Then there are the petty dictators who will not tolerate opinions that differ from theirs and the emotional bullies who can dish it out but not take it. Like any other jackasses, they bray the loudest when they are called on their actions.

I am not MLK, JFK, Abe Lincoln, Ghandi or Mother Teresa. I know that I am just one of the human herd. But my thoughts and feelings are just as important as anyone else's and I am not going to shut up just because someone has self-assumed the mantle of superstar. I think that if a "leader" divides rather than unites, then it is time for that "leader" to pick up her keyboard and fade away.

The good thing about the Internet is that it can be the great equalizer. We can look at each other and decide not to be overly impressed or star-struck. Because we can't see faces or hear voices, we make our decisions based on the content and context of what is written and I can tell you that there have been many times when I have been inspired and many more when I have been decidedly unimpressed. Isn't it great to have the freedom and the option of holding to our own perceptions?

Anyway, I have "Pool-Lattes" this morning at the Y, we need to go to Hubby's work today to fill out his short-term disability paperwork, I have to wash our cars, and I am expecting an email from my grandson in Iraq. I need to check the mail and send off a couple of bill payments, do some laundry and fix dinner for me and Hubby.

Life, Thank God/Dess, Goes On.