I am back from Safeway. I picked up a few things while I was there too so don't need another trip to the store for awhile. I just didn't do a LARGE shopping trip, just got some items to fill in.
The good news- I found the medication my daughter needed . I also found paper towels. ( That was a nice surprise). I saw someone I knew there and we were able to say a brief hello, how is everyone doing thing.
The average news- I found some other normal things too like eggs and produce and some drinks I normally would not find in my regular stores.
The bad news- 3 different people coughing and only about a 1/4 of the shoppers were wearing masks, if that. They now have one way aisles but serious, you don't really notice the arrow at the beginning of the aisle and I don't think people were following them. Just the whole process of wiping everything down when I come home, and the counter tops before and after, and my hands over and over, and my glasses and watch. And taking a shower when everything is put away.
Was it a yin and yang type of trip? I would have to say it wasn't really balanced. It needed some more Zen, which could have happened if I hadn't heard the coughing or the stress of putting away groceries and trying too keep things safe.
I can honestly say I do not like feeling that I need to "recover" from a trip to the grocery store.
I feel like I am now living in a Sci Fi version of Little House on the Prairie.
In the Book/ TV show, going to town is a big production and takes place perhaps once a week or less often. You hitch up the horses to the wagon, dress up, carefully plan out what you want to get, get annoyed because Willie or Nellie have the luxury of having something you want and are playing with or eating it right in front of you, smiling. Run into a townsperson and catch up, Mrs. Olsen stares at you as if you are doing something wrong, and there are chores to do once you get back home like unhitching the horses and watering them, feeding the chickens and making do with what you have and could round up. But there is always laughter at the dinner table and a fiddle to dance to at night before bed.
In the Sci Fi version, you suit up to go to the store once a week or less often, ( mask and gloves if you have them) try to stick to your carefully planned list, get annoyed with the people who have the last (TP, Meat, Bleach, Wipes... whatever) in their cart as they pass you by with a smile on their face, will get a "look" or comment from someone who doesn't like something you did while in the store, say "hi" to a neighbor but with six feet between you and them, have to put everything away in a safe way once home, feed your pets and tell the rest of the family members that you are cleaning up before dinner, and shower. Dinner is mostly what will work or what you can make do with, sometimes what you planned for. After dinner, you watch Netflix, are on your computer or in my case, sometimes gather around the piano and sing songs together.
Ok, I am doing a mental health self check-in right now.
Normally when I see a "shared" article on my FB newsfeed that is filled with lies and misstatements, I don't say anything. I don't engage and just let it be.
But how long does it take for one to remain silent before they themselves become complicit in allowing lies to be accepted as truth.
Tonight after seeing a particular FB post from someone I know that was filled with lies masquerading as facts, I knew, I could not be silent. I simply felt that if I were to stay silent, I would be no better than people who said nothing as Hitler slowly led his nation on a path of genocide and unconscionable acts against humanity. Sometimes to say nothing is to be complicit in allowing evil to spread. I am not saying the person knowingly spread lies, but I just could not remain silent in the face of those lies.
I can't do that.
Normally I ignore these posts. I am fortunate in that I don't see many because I don't have many people in my life who would share things of such importance that are based on lies and misinformation.
Facts are not opinions. Lies are not truths.
I picked my battle tonight.
The chips will fall where they lay and I will look inward and be ok with that.
I thought to bring up everyone’s spirits I’d share with you my “lifeguard” she looks concerned whenever I have me time in the tub ??
Sometimes you just have to speak and hold the line of truth. Do you know about Snopes? Sometimes I will post a link to a Snopes fact-check of the erroneous post/meme or whatever. I might preface it with something kind and gentle--I try to be an ally rather than oppositional. My mother is always believing and sharing those "urban legend" warning stories, ones like "If you are at the mall and you come back to your car and find a flyer on the windshield, watch out because someone is trying to kidnap you and sell you into human trafficking..." So many people are deeply fearful, and there is a great deal out there to keep them triggered (and exhausted enough to be compliant). So I will try to be cheery and say, "Look, this article shows that is false information and there's less for you to worry about!" You could say, "I see you're upset by this, so you might like to know that these facts show that to be untrue..." It isn't about being "one-up" but steering them away from that source of manipulation can be a kindness.
@lovendures Well I had a real life panic attack the last shopping trip! A mask my friend made for me was so thick that I COULD NOT BREATHE! Plus, my hair kept getting in between my face and the mask. Then my glasses started fogging up! ? ? ? I do not like this new normal ? ? ? ? ? The good news is that EVERYONE was wearing a mask. I have rubber gloves too! Social distancing was being observed. I overheard one of the butchers talking to a customer. He said they were all sick back in January. So was I. I had very similar symptoms to Covid-19 but mild. It lasted about 3 weeks. I was going to go to my doctor, but it went away. I think this thing has been around sooner than they think. I’m in Jersey where it’s bad. It’s been bad here for a long time, just like NYC. We have many international airports. I think that is the reason. The good news is that we had an honest to goodness thunderstorm move through here a couple of days ago. That felt so normal, so good, and so right. God’s Blessings on you all. Don’t forget to donate $$$$ to this site. Even if it’s only a few dollars. Everything helps.
I do like Snopes and will link to it sometimes, that or a news article which has facts about the subject. Yes, your example of saying "I see this has upset you" is an excellent way to address the situation and is a nice reminder of how one can approach the elephant in the room with some compassion. Thank you.
Good for you. After 11-9, I lost many, many friends both online and IRL, because they bought into the lies and propaganda. Even the ones who were on the fence fell into the "Well let's see how he does, it can't be too bad" camp. I decided to become an activist, but after a couple of years, I began to see the chasms and divides forming to such an extent that I couldn't tolerate even that anymore. The "Left" is a circular firing squad, and always will be. So I cut back on my activism, I got off Facebook for the better part of a year (2019), and decided I only have the psycho-emotional energy to have one real, old, friend, who is on the far "Right" end of the spectrum compared to me. We agree on a lot of social issues, but politics and economics not so much, and her conservatism has devolved into a selfish form of NIMBY-ism. She and her husband had similar middle class background to mine, but as they became more and more wealthy, they got more and more right wing. Lately I've had to reduce number and length of phone conversations with her, because no matter how many links I send her, she keeps falling prey to the CV conspiracy theories, and tends to believe whatever lies Russia and China are pushing in the moment. I've known her as long as my husband, and I can't just ditch her outright, so I"m starting to distance myself a bit, but i always maintain hope with her that I can bend her, just a little, to the light.
I also have a stepmom who I love, but who is constantly recirculating emails like the ones @herondreams mentioned. I sometimes send her a Snopes link, sometimes I let it go. She is a depressive agoraphobe, so I don't feel a need to push things with her, I know her heart is in the right place, and I just let my Dad deal with things as best he can.
As for everyone else, when I returned to FB, I began culling the Friend Herd immediately, and I keep it down around 100 people (from a high of 600). I have a few rules that may help you cull, too:
- If I never met you in real life, I'm deleting your friend request, I don't care how much you liked a post I tagged a mutual friend in.
- If we are FB friends, but I have not seen you in person in > 5 years, haven't spoken to you on the phone in > 1 year, and you haven't interacted with me online, you're deleted, regardless of other mutual connections.
- If you are a family member who does not respect my privacy enough to not run and share my info with toxic family members who you have been made aware have harmed me in the past, buh-bye.
- If you post more than 2 conspiracy theories as being "absolutely true" - bye. (This comes from both ends of the political spectrum, in fact started with my left-wing friends who said 9-11 was faked.)
- If I see that you consistently support Twitler and Faux News as "having our best interests in mind" - bye.
- If I only accepted your friend request because you are a friend of my husband's, but you and I were not really friends, then you are culled and I'll just keep track of you through my husband, I don't need a duplicate friendship.
As I've said on here many times before - turning the other cheek is all well and good, til you run out of cheeks, then it's time to take a stand and fight the evil we see in the world and stand up for the good, the light, the world as it should be.
If you would have told me last fall that panic attacks wold be a thing when grocery shopping in the spring I would have wondered what planet you. were from. Grocery store runs are more akin to doing a space walk now.
I can totally hear your voice in my head as I read your reasons for culling the Friend Herd. :D
In the part I have put some people on setting where I can't see their posts. It will be interesting to see where things will stand in the fall.
@lovendures, @herondreams, @laura-f,
Re fact checking "news" stories, conspiracy theories, etc.:
About two weeks before T was elected, I had lunch with a good friend who, unbeknownst to me, had intended to vote for him. She saw him as being a strong leader who would protect her family from ISIS (don't bother trying to wrap your head around that one.) When I had asked her about T's disgusting behavior towards women, she replied "well, I don't like it, but men do that. Ron [her husband] talks that way."
She had considered voting for Hillary, but was concerned about some things she had read/heard about her. To prove her point, she started sharing some crazy s#@t she had read about Hillary and Obama. I questioned her stories and she replied "what makes you think your facts are right?" As my face got hot and my voice began to rise, I saw the fear in her face. I retreated and said, "Okay, look it up on factcheck.org and see what it says." It was the first time she had heard of any fact-checking sites. Sure enough -- the longer she read, the more I saw her crestfallen face. "Oh," she said. She seemed embarrassed, which wasn't my intention; I just couldn't listen to that BS as an argument for voting for or against someone.
She still voted for the Mad King. The bottom line: people see what they want to see. I no longer try to convince people of anything. I just pray for them and, if necessary, let them go.
Yeah - I've been putting people in "time out" - "Snooze for 30 days", to see if their "condition" clears up on its own LOL.
what is this "facebook" thing of which you speak? it sounds more like an assbook
@deetoo ...
Lols ... great vid ?
Go ahead and call me ' old school ', but I have ditched Gaagle (and never got into ''social networks")... thus my challenged ineptitude in being able to ''download", "upload" and to further enhance the online experience ..... ?
I do find tho that the channels are more clear from Spirit and the (super*) natural world than ever before... maybe just my perspective in hanging in the trees alot? )))
Just for smiles ^^:
Hello(From the Inside)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5azNpTwVk8
My Corona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojrtwXqqc6g
Can't touch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbe_aoaw0y4
Hope y'all enjoy these I did <3