I had an interesting experience today on Facebook. I had posted a comment on a friends wall, one of those "Sum up XYZ in a single word" type requests. So I did, I posted a one word comment that I felt was appropriate and fitting for the topic. It wasn't too profound or deeply spiritual. Just a simple one word response. I went back to the post a few hours later and read through some of the other one word postings and then became very confused, frustrated, and a little angry with a new comment my friend had posted. Some of the other one word responses were the same word I had chosen. Yet, my friend had posted a comment directed at me, citing my name directly, declaring how shallow and two faced I was. That I had a tendency to "post and run" using one word instigating postings and often simple unreflective one liners with disregard for the conversation at hand. Needless to say I was shocked. Others, whom I have never met and have no knowledge of began to chime in, following my friends lead. I felt attacked and bewildered.
I began to type in a response that was indicative of the anger and shock I was feeling. Then....backspace backspace backspace. I let the keys sit idle for awhile. I wondered if my friends account had been hacked and others were posthumously posting in his name. I left my home and went and ran some errands, yet still pondered how I could appropriately respond to my friend and his compatriots' attack.
When I finally responded, I indicated how confusing my friend was being. I needed clarification of his remarks before I laid into him with all that I could contrive. This is where I was glad I had that backspace button.
After sometime my friend finally posted a new comment. Apparently there were several other postings by another individual with the same name as mine. Of which all of his comments had been removed before I had read them. The comments from my friend and the other non-aquaintences were all in response to this other individual, and not to me. But, since none of them had used last names in their posts, only this individuals first name, which is also my first name, I had taken them as responding to my posting.
But this made me wonder even more. How many times do we respond simply to what we see and hear, having limited knowledge of the entire scene before us? Unlike FB, e-mail, chat forums...and the like, there isn't a backspace on life. We cannot delete the actions and words that we perform and release upon our fellow men. By God's grace and our friends forgiveness, we can try to correct or amend the injury, but we cannot delete it from having happened.
