The way I use and partake in social media irritates some people. The online rants I post worry loved ones. Reading what sounds like my perpetual bitching urges new friends to try to appease me with their words. I see this and I know this and for the close-to-my heart loved ones and family, I get it. I feel ya :)
So I thought I'd try to explain it in a blog post.
I posted some words the other night after work. I'm a bartender, so I see first-hand the pull that you and I and so very many others feel for this legal drug. I can't recommend AA to any of my custies ... I can only recommend a beer or a bevvy concoction. But as the moment nears to cut-off time, every shift shows me the urgency that 'last-call' makes some people feel. Sometimes after a shift I like to unwind by reading my fb friend's posts or my twitter friend's tweets ... and I like to put my thoughts into words.
I posted this after a night of tending the bar:
"Re. Tipped Wages: a fair wage should not be dependent on the generosity of a stranger.
And yet ... saying that after another amazing night of bartending and blushing at the tips I made ... seems wrong and ungrateful.
Really though, when you think about it, I make $9,75 an hour right now to cook fast food (minimal as it is) and serve, charm :) , evaluate, and assess all of the people I'm serving alcohol to.
I can't tell you have many peeps I served tonight.
But if any of them didn't make it home safely, I could lose the farm (minimal as it is).
For $9.75 an hour."
Now, a new fb friend commented that it could be worse. And that he liked me and didn't like to see me angry all the time. After some discourse on that fact, I realized that I needed to read my words again from a different perspective. I asked myself how I'd feel or how I do feel, when I read rants from friends. I realize that I write in the first person a lot ... even when the point I'm making doesn't involve me. It's a way to make you feel it more. And it's been working on me for many many years.
For those of you that worry that my job or my causes or my whatevers are stressing me out. Or if you too wonder if I'm angry all the time, the answer is no. As long as I can write down my thoughts, I'm good :)
In the end, I see this: The best spots to play hide 'n seek are in the dark corners. If you're a problem, it's hard to hide when the spotlight is on you. This is how I feel about being described as a walking, talking public service announcement. You can't live a full life with all that is offered in the world, if you don't know about it all. And conversely, change for equality will never come if nobody knows there's a problem!
Time and time again, I'll overhear someone say something, jot it down and google it when I'm home. From there, may come a rant, a rave, or the subject for my next cause. So if it works that way with me, my hope is that it'll urge you to tell others and to research it yourself.
Droplets in oceans cause big changes to the shoreline.
What I feel; others feel too. I know this. I have had total strangers tell me that they didn't think anyone else felt a certain way that I had described in a rant, and thanked me for putting their emotions into words. If everything in life has to be put into a monetary value, then that for me is priceless.
Wanting change is one thing. But push push pushing it by gathering troops is how it's done baby. And troops don't only wear fatigues!! Sometimes they wear birkenstocks and doc martins. Sometimes they're tatted and dreaded and grungy.
Actions are where it's at ... not looks :) And if you have a voice and the opportunity to tell another person about a better way or a law that will protect them, you too can feel that priceless feeling.
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