…mind yourself

Life is full of lessons, lessons that we all must learn, some of us many times over.  For instance, here’s one important life lesson: not everyone will always agree with you.

It’s rough but true. It’s true on the playground, it’s true in the office, and it’s true on Facebook. All of the other children are not going to like everything you say, and they can throw sand at you, freeze you out of office outings, and/or hit the comment button too.

Now, here’s the funny thing, while all of that may make perfect sense to you, there seems to be a disconnect between that and the next step for many, many people.

Here’s the curveball: Just because a conversation starts online doesn’t mean it’s going to stay there.  

For instance, say you post something politically charged as your Facebook status and a “friend” of yours who also happens to be a real-life friend of yours responds negatively. You say something mean/petty back, and so on and so forth…

Unless you only hang out with goldfish (or human beings with equivalent attention spans) they’ll probably remember the argument next time you see them, the likelihood of which of course is entirely dependant on the fortitude of your friendship and the intensity of your political Facebook  discussion.

I think the lesson here is don’t share your political opinions on Facebook unless you feel really strongly about them and are willing to stand by them, and potentially lose a few “friends” and friends along the way.

Unless of course all you believe in is puppies and rainbows, because odds are that won’t offend anyone.  Who doesn’t support puppies and rainbows?  Seriously, who?

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“Political Spats on Facebook Spill Into Real Life”: USA TODAY

…bi-daily smile…