Been thinking all day – alternately with anger, pain and chagrin – about the nature of virtual and virtually aided friendship. When I was teenager, I used to have huge birthday parties at which I delighted in mixing people from different groups – neighborhood friends, school friends, youth-group friends, relatives – loving to watch them interact and just bounce off one another. I felt like the hub of some great wheel (the Wonder Wheel, say), viewing my life taking shape as a fantastic swirl of incredible people and places. I’ve thought of Facebook that way – with the added benefit of being able to shed my natural shyness and just be myself, plus the bonus of friends of friends joining in for the ride. This morning, I found out that I was, not just “defriended” but “blocked” by a friend of a friend who, in a year or so of comments and observations, had come to feel like an actual friend. The reason was silly (I found out by contacting the original friend, worried about my blocker because I hadn’t seen a posting for a few days) – I had disagreed with a few comments and he didn’t feel like debating (although he certainly didn’t have to). Felt swindled and betrayed. I have a number of friends who differ with me on some very important issues – don’t mind reading their opinions, I have no need to see the world as my exact mirror. Wondered if it was ridiculous to care, but the hurt was real, and I wondered if I should just curl back up in my shell. But the thing is, I love the ride too much. Thanks all for coming with me.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 01:07:34 +0000
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