Folks, I don’t even know what to start with here. Hi. Hey. Here’s an inspirational quote: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. – Aesop.” I don’t know. I hope you and yours are doing well.
This column was originally me trying to crack a joke or two at the expense of people who try to make horrible situations about them. “Oh, my great-grandfather used to be roommates with a guy from Boston, so you’ll have to excuse me grieving harder today.”
Then it turned into a rant about how childish it is that the social media police come out en masse during tragedies or how people use this as an excuse to get into a digital dick-measuring contest. A tasteless joke gets said or a stupid consumer brand forgets to stop auto-tweeting and this happens:
Well, we angrily tweet. Same thing. Maybe irrational anger about how other people tweet/post is how we process something that doesn’t make sense, I don’t know.
After two aborted attempts, I went home and did this:
Everyone I know in Boston is OK and accounted for. Short of grieving and checking in with my family, I didn’t know what else to do. I imagine I’m not the only one. This stuff happens with such a frequency that being numb has become a way of life. So I sat. I watched “The Cleveland Show.” I didn’t do much.
Around 1:30 this morning, I took another crack at it. It was going to be called “How tragedy gets expressed on social media now.” It was a bunch of GIF’s. Here’s a bunch of them:
Strike three. (Although that last one is absolute perfection and should be viewed whenever you’re feeling down.)
So here we are. My intent was good, man! The plan was: 1: Dissuade the notion that responding to hate with hate is a pointless exercise which will totally make you miserable. 2: Reassure people who read these words that being a positive person even when its hard to do so will always lead to a happier and more fulfilling existence. (You’ll also get laid more.) and 3: Make someone laugh. I don’t think I did that, but maybe that’s OK right now. In the meantime, I’m going to go tell my friends and family that I love them, grieve for those that we’ve lost and those hurting right now, and get back to being excited about the prospect of what tomorrow’s got coming. Do likewise. I promise we’ll get ’em next time, OK?
More Top Picks Best Gas Pole Saws
Want more? Discuss this article and others on RedEye’s Facebook page.