Facebook

I don't know about you, but I have a love, hate relationship with Facebook.

I love it because it's fun to see what everyone is up to. It's a good way to communicate ideas, to ask for help, to request prayer. Several of the people on my current prayer list are there because of Facebook. And I'm able to keep tabs on how they are doing because of Facebook.

How awesome is that?

It's a great tool when it's used to circulate knowledge and information and truth. It's the new and upcoming way to get the facts out to the people.

It's definitely made our world smaller. People on the other side of the globe don't seem to be so far away anymore. And it reminds us that wherever we are, whatever we are going through in this human experience we call life we are all basically the same. We go through lots of the same emotions, hurts, and joys.

That's way cool!

But it's sometimes not so cool that we now know so many details about people's daily lives and they about ours.

Is it always good that our world has seemed to shrink it's size?

I'm not always so sure that it is.

And nothing it secret anymore.

Everyone knows about every gathering...even when they weren't invited...and that, sometimes, stings.

Especially 15 year old girls.

Remember the day when you didn't mention what you were doing because you didn't want a friend to feel left out? Well those days seem to be dead and gone. Because even if you don't write of it, it's almost a guarantee that someone else will.

So where that leaves us...I don't know.

I think we have to remember our manners...even on Facebook. It is so easy to forget the real faces behind all those profiles.

One rule of thumb to follow, I believe, would for parents to always, always be "friends" with their kids on Facebook.

Look out for what they are posting. Teach them proper manners. Not only for in person, but for social networking too. Correct them when you see they've been inconsiderate to one of their friends.

If Facebook and social networking are the wave of the future, and it seems as though they are, then we must, must not forget our humanness in it all. We must not become callous and rude. What after all, will become of us if we do?

And that's this gal's view for today.