Oh my, oh my! I have been so tempted this week to slide down the slippery slope of snark, vitriol, incivility, and sticking out my tongue while shaking my head back-and-forth, in bewilderment. You get the picture, right? I’ve spent too much time reading the news online. My us vs. them dynamics have been stirred up. Snark, and its near-kin, are rampant in most everything I read. Should I be happy that snark and vitriol have morphed into equal opportunity behaviors? At least no one seems left out….
I look at it this way... way too many people taking things way too personally. The trick is to know when it's all about them--the snarks, or all about you or me--the snarkees. LOL!
I find it I take nothing personally, as Don Miguel Ruiz tells me in his 4-agreements book, then I cannot be offended. Same goes, do I want to be right, or do I want to be at peace?
Outwardly, I am at peace, but I reserve the cartoon cloud bubble over my head to give back the snark where it may so deservedly need to be shoveled. A win/ win. I think of it like gardening-- putting on compost as a top dressing. Weeds, snarks, all the same. LOL!
What a wonderful look at social contagion and how it spreads its ugly or beautiful viruses/bacteria through our lives. It explains so well the psychic pain I'm sure we have all felt in this country in recent years, and especially how we NC-inians have felt during the months building up toward the recent primary election and again now as we move toward the general elections. Snark has been omnipresent in the politicaverse, and I for one have felt it entering into my deepest innards everyday as I've read the newspapers. But we can choose to spread non-pain, too, through letting love and respect spread through our social contagion. Thanks for reminding us of this, Jan.
I look at it this way... way too many people taking things way too personally. The trick is to know when it's all about them--the snarks, or all about you or me--the snarkees. LOL!
I find it I take nothing personally, as Don Miguel Ruiz tells me in his 4-agreements book, then I cannot be offended. Same goes, do I want to be right, or do I want to be at peace?
Outwardly, I am at peace, but I reserve the cartoon cloud bubble over my head to give back the snark where it may so deservedly need to be shoveled. A win/ win. I think of it like gardening-- putting on compost as a top dressing. Weeds, snarks, all the same. LOL!
What a wonderful look at social contagion and how it spreads its ugly or beautiful viruses/bacteria through our lives. It explains so well the psychic pain I'm sure we have all felt in this country in recent years, and especially how we NC-inians have felt during the months building up toward the recent primary election and again now as we move toward the general elections. Snark has been omnipresent in the politicaverse, and I for one have felt it entering into my deepest innards everyday as I've read the newspapers. But we can choose to spread non-pain, too, through letting love and respect spread through our social contagion. Thanks for reminding us of this, Jan.
Andy, thank you! I wonder if there might be someplace where you can post what you responded to me? It’s just lovely. Truly.
Love,
Jan