Social Media and ME!

Albuquerque Sunrise
by: Richard Estrada

      I absolutely love Face Book and social media.  I love that I can communicate with lost family and friends all over the world.  I can now even call them and have a video chat.  Now, that is some major Star Trek stuff isn't it?  There are some things however that yes, I am so very thankful for but I also wish social media could fix.  Simple things like hunger, cancer, mental illness, domestic violence, and a million other things honestly.
      I have friends that I have made honestly all over the world.  Friends that uplift and inspire me so much.  I have a friend and her family who sell Scentsy and lived in Ireland.  So super cool huh?  Absolutely , lovely family and they have followed their dreams , traveled all over the world the last 3 years or so and have now moved to Spain.  SPAIN!!  How cool is that?  So, now via their family I get to learn and experience Spain.  Oh, then I have a wonderful friend who's family have chosen and yes CHOSEN to be nomads for a year.  Yes, they are traveling the world and house sitting in some spots, exploring and staying in hostels.  They are as a family of four checking things off their bucket lists and diving into the culture of each place they visit.  So far they've been to England, Scotland, Sri Lanka and Thailand.  I love reading their blog and experiencing life with them.  Let me see , who else?  Oh a totally fun and silly rocking lady in New Zealand who is a female truck driver!!  She hauls loads of rock and dirt all day and does inspirational and motivational videos from the cab of her truck.  Oh and she is also a Scentsy Sister.
     Then there are the friends who honestly some I have no clue how we became friends.  Either me liking a page or talking to them on a page somewhere and we become friends.  I have some of these people who I met when a young woman was badly beaten and thrown from a car and left to die in the hot Florida sun for two days.  We all came together to try to help ID this woman.  The friends I met from that experience and also the young woman who did regain her life and name are some of the most precious friends I have.  I have friends I've met who walk the same painful walk with me and my chronic illnesses and pain also.  Then, there are friends who I love and support while crying in my pillow as they are in the fight of their or a loved ones life.  So, many people I know who are fighting cancer.  One absolutely beauituful and amazing friend won her battle against breast cancer while supporting her young son during his battle with cancer also.  This poor little man is still fighting and his Mama is so strong and brave and stoic.  I have no clue how she holds it all together but she does.  I also have friends who are care takers.  Day in and day out they take care of their loved ones thru the good the bad and the ugly.  They are so tired and worn out at the end of the day.  I know this life well and do my best to let them know how loved and cherished they are even if those they take care of aren't quiet able to voice their feelings.  I have friends who I have watched for years suffer in pain and not really knowing for sure if my strange feelings were correct.  Then finding out this friend and her sweet boys are held up in a hotel because she finally found the courage to leave her abusive husband.  I've watched her face battle after battle and stand and fight couragously with her four boys by her side.  When she felt so lost and alone but still chose to do the best for her sons.  She is also one of my dearest friends.
      Then I have the sweet friends who I know are always there for me if I just reach out.  Lately , I've been so ill and depressed all I do is read the social pages and respond here and there.  Then there are times I see so much hurt and suffering of my friends and loved ones that I have to help or say something.  Times I lay awake at night praying for the Lord to please be with them, to please answer our prayers of healing.  I've seen so many of my friends lose their parents, children and loved ones.  My heart truely hurts for them.
     In the end I really don't know why the Lord puts all these people in our lives.  I do wish that we could solve all of the hurt and pain in the world on social media.  I wish we could raise money for all those who are hungry in our world by sharing a post or liking a post.  I also wish we could stop all the hatred and violence in the world just by sharing happy, fun, and beautiful pictures of the world we live in.  I am thankful that I can now video chat with loved ones and look forward to the day this technology will help doctors provide care to third world countries.  I guess honestly for this new year of  2017  that our world and everyone in it will find peace within their own hearts.  For I feel if we are truely peaceful within our hearts  we can not also have hatred .  I pray this coming year cures for cancer , ms, lyme disease, and als will be found.  Along with Cystic Fibrosis so my little warriors wont have to fight for their lives anymore.
 This was a very rambling post and I apologize just needed to pour my heart out somewhere.  I don't know why we have so much hurt in the world or why there are times I feel so overwhelmed by it but tonight is one of them.