You don’t need to look far to see it. It’s running rampant on the internet… Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, in news articles, and most definitely in the comment section off all of the above. Hate, anger, disrespect, name-calling, accusations, insults, character defamation, sarcasm, hate. I think if people could snarl and spit nails over social media, we’d see that too!

It’s not okay! It is one thing to have strong feelings and opinions, it’s another thing to attack people because their beliefs differ from ours. It’s not okay to call people names because they disagree with you and me. It’s not okay, to defame their intelligence because they don’t see things our way. It’s not okay to “scream” insults with our keyboards while telling our children to “sprinkle kindness like confetti” and “don’t be a bully.”

The more comfortable that people (including us) become with verbally destroying one another on social media, the more readily it will manifest in person! Think about it, the rioters who are looting and destroying… Do you think this is their first go-around with attacking others? I’m not going out on a limb to say, “No way!” They’ve done it online already if not in person, but they now feel that world events make it socially acceptable to take it to another level regardless of the consequences.

How do we manage to ask a whole nation of social media experts to hold up, think carefully, choose a better pathway? I wish I knew. But we have to start somewhere.

Somewhere is here: #wipeouthate Wednesday.

#Wipeouthate Wednesdays is a chance for us to remember that we are more alike than different! I can wax eloquent here in listing the gazillion ways we are alike! But for brevity, here are some biggies:

• We love
• We want to be loved
• We feel pain
• We hurt others
• We seek happiness
• We work to achieve goals
• We want freedom
• We appreciate respect
• We have values and beliefs
• We have melanin in our skin, hair, and eyes
• We prefer health over sickness
• We prefer life over death
• We love

#Wipeouthate Wednesdays for Social Media means:
NO to: political posts, hot topic or current debate posts, conspiracy posts, accusation posts, or even face mask posts! (No rude comments either.)
YES to: encouraging words, kind thoughts, celebrations, positive artistic expression, hopeful ideas, and cute pet pictures! (Lots of positive comments too!)

Think about it… choosing to set aside the things that divide us and focus on the things that unite us??? That’s like a gooey, warm stream of salted caramel sauce pouring over vanilla bean ice cream! Let’s do this!

Live Loved!

Please share on social media!