Facebook is full of profound images, those that uplift and those that are a warning of dangers going on around us. Nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, in a culture where we are so distanced from each other physically and where local is overwhelming, picking images from the global village makes sense. It’s a way to make sense of the world around us. And humans like order, sense and to feel as if they are in control.
I like images the same as the next person and I very much enjoy Facebook and post to it when if feel like sharing something profound or profoundly silly. Bacon roses come to mind on the silly front, it being close to Valentine’s day and all. I also react to these images by saying “so what?”. So what if this is uplifting? So what if this is terrible? So what if we all push the ‘like’ button on it and pass it around? So what if we all acknowledge it? It doesn’t mean anything unless we do something. It’s great that you are interested in seeing pictures of Amazonians living their lives naked with face paint. So when are you going to live your life in the open? It’s great that you acknowledge that their life is going to shit and they may lose all their habitat. So what? If you’re really affected by that, what are you doing to help. And don’t tell me you sent some money to some organization. It’s really easy to find from their financials that almost none of that money will leave this country and practically none will reach the person you are trying to help, if that’s what you’re trying to do instead of avoid having to actually do anything.
How about this: How about for every image that you post, you take a direct action to do something that supports it or corrects it? If you post something about the elderly living in bad conditions, go visit an assisted care facility for a few hours? If you post something about a physical ailment or disease that needs curing, why not volunteer at a hospital or a clinic? If you post something about wonderful animals, why not volunteer at the Audubon, your local Zoo, or a rescue center? If you post about the 99%, go volunteer with the local group for a day. If you post about feeding people, go feed people at a soup kitchen. Just those few hours could be the lever that changes the rotation of the earth and gets it spinning in a healing way so life becomes good for everyone. Or at least it would keep us all out of trouble.
