Dropping Like Flies

It's amazing how much I put up with these days, from friends, family, social media, "friends" and family on social media, and I just carry on, especially when it is family. Look, I love my family, from the most immediate to the most distant cousin. We may not always agree, and we may sometimes vehemently disagree, but I will always love and care for my family whatever politics or other beliefs try to get in the way. I oftentimes feel that way about friends. I just love the people I have come to know in my life, which is special, to me, because I am very picky about who I let into my life. Sure, I have some Facebook "friends" whose requests I accepted only because I sometimes have trouble saying "no" to people, especially if I see them often otherwise or if those people are acquainted with me through someone else. That doesn't me I don't care for that person, it just means I haven't "vetted" them fully or that I am far less invested in the effort to maintain that relationship. Anyway, the point of all this is to say, again, that I really do put up with a lot, some of it ridiculous, some of it hateful, and I let it go because people are entitled to their own opinion, and it's usually not worth the effort to engage someone whose mind I know I cannot change. However, sometimes, after enduring endless barrages of misinformation or various other indiscretions, I must make my voice heard. I cannot hold it in any longer. The funny thing is that I usually let it out in what I consider a safe zone, my blog: "a place to rant, rave, and purge the soul." And I never name people (well, maybe once or twice, but I have written hundreds of blog posts), and I rarely get specific. It's intentional. It's no one else's business what my disagreements are with other people. Of course, there are some who are hell bent on making sure it is the business of others, or at least that those others are made aware of it. I know this vague, but that is part of my point as is the fact that I never un-friend someone for a difference of opinion unless that person proved, through great efforts, that he was a jerk. And I would never un-friend a family member because that makes no sense to me. Apparently, a family member has un-friended me. It's weird to me. I also made the rare un-friending myself because someone who was a "friend," who I did not ever get to know very well, proved to be a jerk. Then a few of our mutual friends (all related to him in some technical way [by marriage]) un-friended me in turn. I also noticed, just this evening, that another friend has un-friended me. It's fine, I know who my true friends are, and they are not jerks, and they certainly are people who love me for who I am, regardless of differences of opinion and regardless of my flaws, which I have plenty of. So I will continue to Facebook on my merry way, keeping those friends who will have me and never un-friending family because where would any of us be without them?