Sometimes Social Media Isn't Social

Sometimes social media isn’t social

It’s divisive and cruel

Lies and opinions

Like gasoline to fuel

No care for feelings

Lives or hearts 

No fact check?

They’d rather

Throw verbal darts

Sometimes social media isn’t social

It is pain-filled

And painful

Simply

Anti-social

Used to

Humiliate

Infiltrate

Underestimate

And obliterate

The truth

Peeping toms,

Peeping, then speaking,

Things they know little about

As if they are the authority

IN ALL CAPS

That virtual SHOUT

Sometimes

Social media

Doesn’t help

Getting together

It forces separation

Propagates

Proliferation

But every now and then

A post will make me smile,

or laugh

and celebrate the writer of

a poignant sentiment

Thank God,

A brief respite,

Heaven sent

I acknowledge then

It is the scribe that isn’t social

And they don’t even know it

No apologies forthcoming

No retractions

Just heroics

No one saves the day

Yet tomorrow, here we are again

To play

Among the thorns and roses

It’s the scribe that isn’t social

And they don’t even know it

Yet that innate need for social

Draws us back

Into the fray

Sometimes social media isn’t social

But we’re on it

Every day.

Bring Back Our Girls

I find myself consciously seeking to subdue my emotions on the issue of hundreds of Nigerian school girls kidnapped, to be used as pawns to manipulate and control. I care deeply, intensely, and it is difficult to conceptualize or accept this truth. It horrifies me, but it has happened.

They were snatched away from all things familiar, safety now a memory - pulled from expressions of love and care into terrifying situations. It is too much to bear. My heart weeps with the mother's and bleeds with the father's. The images that plague their minds are likely ones of terror. They have seen the nature of the captors. They know the possible fates their offspring face.

I cannot imagine what their days are like. Is sleeplessness and constant worry now the new reality? Do daunting feelings of utter hopelessness and anguish drape the landscape of their thoughts? That state of being is now the common thread, a link between the girls and their families, Nigeria and the world – worry, concern, fear, apprehension, doubt - pain.

The Nigerian people expect the government to do more. In their eyes (on this matter) it is an impotent institution. Maybe the country’s elect feel as powerless. It is possible what is viewed as ineptitude is their stark truth, “we are not equipped to handle this.” I could be wrong, it could be something else altogether. What I do know with certainty, those girls deserve their freedom. I am praying for their safe return. Bring back our girls.

The Opposite Way

Mainstream is often the dream, but not necessarily the prize.
Sometimes we’ve got to go against the grain to make the difference
God called us to make in this world.
Sometimes we’ve got to make the unpopular choice.
Are you willing to go - the opposite way?