It dawned on me the other evening while deep in thought that there are many situations that have transpired in our personal lives that would have probably never happened if not for the advent of this thing called Facebook.
When I say Facebook I am speaking of the entire scope of social media (YouTube, Twitter, MySpace etc.) but choose to refer to it in this manner due to its popularity (Y’all know what I am talking about!)
But instead of actually blaming Facebook I am going to blame us and also myself for being “duped” into believing what I see. You see, how many times has an aging former athlete gone out to the playing field on the weekend to attempt his personal best with the amped up visuals of a YouTube video in his head from his/her not too distant past.
YouTube has the ability to make those old moments fresh and I for one have been guilty of this to the utmost. The only difference between maybe you and I is that I will publicly admit this phenomenon. But check it out…….everyone who follows my blog knows that I am an avid boxing fan, heck, when haven’t I been?
Back in the day growing up you couldn’t tell me that I wouldn’t one day be the heavyweight Champ of the entire World. But then again back in those times every Black man had that feeling embedded deep down inside of them. I guess it comes from the desire to want to be know for being good with your hands. A macho thing maybe?
But how times have changed!
These days too many of our young men are more preoccupied with the petty foolishness that goes absolutely nowhere as opposed to our upbringing back in the day where we MADE quality memories. Dang! What will they have? Will they look back on the hours of couch potato video watching and internet surfing and say those were the good old days?
But because of these preserved moments frozen on YouTube we are catapulted back to our prime years (For those of us who are getting up there in the age department!) and it seems as though we can’t differentiate between the then and now! Heck, I was watching an old Muhammad Ali fight and got so amped up that I found myself shadowboxing in the office so hard as though I was in the championship fight that I was viewing from thirty-six years ago! I am willing to bet that YouTube was the blame for a lot of backs slipping out and pulled muscles. Talk about instant enthusiasm!
But on a more tragic level I’m quite sure that you’ve heard of the situation where two middle aged individuals who were romantically linked in their younger years have reconnected on Facebook and seemed to forget that so much has happened in those thirty years since they last embraced.
How much has happened?
Marriage and children, ain’t that enough?
Well because of the first shock of reconnecting and finding out that they have been doing relatively well aside from the normal bumps in the road of life they begin to skirt around the subject of their eventual breakup and the circumstances around it. They catch up on all that has since happened and reconnect the dots that should have been left alone.
The tensions can be seen in the conversation as well as the aroused pauses in their response time when typing an answer until one of the parties admits that they have been fantasizing about those good times that they used to have and THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE!
Exhumed passions and moistened loins take over all sense of reasoning as the cyber-mind connection takes over like the most powerful of addictive drugs.
The minutes instant messaging turns to hours and the infrequent and unscheduled time spent fester into an everyday thing where plans are now being made to fly in to spend time with each other unbeknownst to their spouses. Of course their spouses wouldn’t know about it because the entire flavor of their conversation has shifted into another mode whether they have outwardly admitted it or not!
Is it because this intimate connection supersedes anything that a marriage can offer or is it that there is a hidden weakness or crack in the veneer of their matrimonial commitment?
Let me ask you, was it the fault of Facebook or was this an already dormant feeling lurking and lingering deep in their mutual hearts already? Would they have been so quick to share certain deep thoughts if it weren’t in the comfort of their own home as opposed to reuniting legitimately in the presence of their spouses for a friendly hello?
Now here they find themselves locked away in a hotel room naked as the day that God brought them into this world feeling like to horny adolescents in a world of their own intoxicated from the old feelings that have rushed back into their lives as they now find themselves spent and confused contemplating breaking the news to their spouses at home that they want a divorce so that they can be together.
Think not?
This happens more than you can imagine! Again I ask, is this the fault of Facebook or was the potential always there regardless as to how it came to fruition?
I would say that most would agree that the internet and social media has been an accelerator to many dormant situations that may not have ever seen the light of day otherwise because of the many social boundaries that are in place to stop something unnecessary from getting out of hand in the first place.
Back in the pre-internet days, I wouldn’t say that indiscretions never happened but they had to take a longer time to come out due to the risk involved and the time it took to pursue such a scenario. It just wasn’t that easy to communicate a wayward thought as it is now and that alone was enough to quell the fire of lust in most cases.
Our very thoughts have become the ultimate drug as they go undetected and cannot be confirmed to exist in our bloodstream like conventional substances until we are placed into a very tempting situation that puts on display the state of our true character.
Facebook is nothing more than that long handled wooden spoon that stirs up the contents that for the most part remain hidden until the right components are in place to expose what has been lurking all along in the bottom of the soup pot of our souls for so very long.
So don’t blame the social media networks for your lack of control and character, no, don’t do that…….because a man and woman of strong moral fiber will never give in to the foolishness that has now become not only all too commonplace, but also the norm in today’s rotting society.
I can tell you of a married Preacher many years (More like a few decades!) ago who walked passed me in the middle of the night while I was visiting an old girlfriend to blatantly have sex right upstairs with my old girlfriend’s sister in their house one floor above where her parents slept soundly to wake up early in the morning to hear that same very preacher speak the word of God to them in HIS church after a night of screwing their very willing daughter!
I can tell you of a married man who carried on a long term in house affair with his step daughter who was in her life from a single digit age, eventually impregnating her while still married to his wife and playing along (They claimed to never know who the father of the child was!) like everything is just fine for YEARS…….the ultimate case of low down dirty “creeping!” what some people will do! Imagine being a step grand daddy and REAL daddy at the same time? THIS IS NASTY!
I can tell you of the woman who would go out to take to the streets after getting beat by her husband to get revenge by dressing up in revealing fashion (She put her stiletto heels and micro-miniskirt in a small bag and told him that she was going to the store!) and making some strange guys night that she picked up randomly by performing raw complete fellatio on him (Yes, she swallowed) in her car then coming home to forgive her husband for what he did then kissing him deeply with a mouth still soaked with another man’s sperm. Little did he know.
Now why am I saying all of this? I am telling you all of this because those were a few instances that have transpire long before the home computer or social networks like Facebook were ever thought of! So to blame Facebook for a flawed character is one of the most blatant and weakest excuses that anyone could ever make! It’s all about what type of person you are when it comes down to it.
Remember the old saying “The Devil Made Me Do It?”
Well these days too many of us will be saying that “Facebook Made Me Do It!”
If you can’t handle the situations that are out here in full display and just a keystroke away, then stay away from this modern day electronic sexual Ouija board at all costs!
Your marriage, your home life, your financial standing and your very sanity may depend on it.
You have been warned. Play at your own risk.
