Ok everyone, odd thing for the day…My friend, Monique Batson, reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise, posted a blog this week (Mom Spot) about a man who is selling pieces of his broken heart on Ebay. I read her blog and thought…you have to be kidding me! Of course, I really shouldn’t be surprised when you consider all of the crazy things people sell and do on sites like Ebay, Craigslist, etc. However, I thought this can’t be real. I had to see it for myself. I looked at the actual auction on Ebay and sure enough, it’s real! (Ebay Auction) Apparently, this man’s ex left him for his best friend. So, in his final act of revenge, he ousts her on a very public site and is auctioning off a clear resin ball shaped piece that houses three trinkets from his marriage…a David Yurman cross, his wedding band and several pieces of a ceramic heart that she apparently had put in a master bathroom tile.
The responses to Monique’s blog are amazing…people are very quick to point fingers back and forth (which is normal), his friends and her friends are posting he said/she said stuff (also normal), but what gets me is the flack that Monique is getting. Though Monique does work for the Beaumont Enterprise, this is a blog, which in it’s very essence is opinion. Monique (as you can read on the blog) does not say anything bad about this man or his ex. She simply puts the story out there for others to read and asks a simple question at the end…”What do you think: Is it fair to use the Internet to get revenge on an ex? Or is that taking things just a little too far?” Apparently Monique has also been getting phone calls and letters telling her things like this is none of her business and she should stay out, etc.
Here’s my question…if you post something on the internet…Facebook, Ebay, MySpace, etc…is it not fair that those who are able to see it should be able to comment on it or have an opinion on it? My mother and I have been discussing this about several things we have seen on Facebook lately. For example, I posted on Facebook that I was taking Stephen to paint and then we were headed to get his bed and home to finish up his room. Yes, only friends of mine can see my posts, so obviously total strangers aren’t seeing it (because I set my preferences that way), however, I posted my schedule…I expect that someone could possibly say something. It’s a public forum. So, when I get posts like, “He’ll love that” or “Where are you painting?”, I expect it and will answer if warranted. But if you post something personal about you or someone else and then get upset that other people didn’t “mind their own business” (yes, this has happened)…Honestly, you really have no right to insist that people mind their own business! Am I not right?
So, when this guy posted this junk about his ex on Ebay (and from what I hear his Facebook account also), then he and others have no right to tell people like Monique, or anyone else who makes a comment, that they should mind their own business.
On another note…it’s a sad state of affairs that not only do human beings seek revenge (and often publicly) but that we (as humans) now take it to such a global level. We are so bent on living in misery that all we can think about is spreading that misery to others. The problem with that is, though we may cause some temporary pain to the person we target, the real pain is caused to ourselves because we allow ourselves to live in anger and bitterness and become so wrapped up in it that we lose site of all the wonderful, beautiful things God has for us in this life.
So, my challenge to you is this…let go of that anger and bitterness and while you are still dealing with it…don’t make it public like this. If you need to talk to a friend or two, that’s understandable and acceptable, but don’t make it so that the whole world can have access to it. It just makes matters worse.
God is here for you, run to him with your anger and bitterness and he will take it away.
Blessed Beyond Measure 