Saturday, March 22, 2014

Love and affirmation


People are pretty amazing!

Last night I posted a line on my Facebook page that apparently confused some people... and I guess I played a part in that. I basically wrote "I'm coming out (and yes, I just heard Diana Ross in my head and if you are gay, you probably heard it too)."

The support I received was astounding.

Mind you now, folks, I have been an out gay man since 1982 after my wife of seven years and I divorced. I became a little less open, officially anyway after joining the Navy in 1994. When the government abolished the military's policy "Don't Ask Don't Tell," I think I came out again, pretty much full force... and with a vengeance.

The line that started this whole thing was a joke. Here's how it goes. One of your friends posts a line and if you "like" or post a comment you get a private message instructing you to pick one of the 14 somewhat outrageous choices and post it on your page and then sit back and wait for the fun to begin. To entice us to continue this viral thread's instructions mention that the joke is meant to raise support for women's cancer victims. How? I don't know.

One of my favorite Navy Chiefs posted a line last night and I fell for it hook, line and stinker.

For mine in turn, I chose the most obvious one (but I really wanted to post the one that said "I am out of tampons! Help!" I think that really would have confused the hell out of some people. LoL!).

What I did not envision was all of the wonderful reaffirming messages I received.

I want received some pretty wonderful things, some humorous, some endearing, some hilariously naughty. And all were welcome--all but one. Hold on, I will explain in a bit.

Some responses made a lot of sense and mentioned things I had not considered.

My friend David Gerrold--and one of my favorite authors, fell for the joke too and I privated him. I already knew he would not play the game and he kindly responded he doesn't play games like this. I do understand his feelings on the matter. Another favorite science fiction author, Robert Sawyer, brought up a great point. He wanted proof that this joke could help the cause... a similar comment came from a few other friends.

I do understand their concerns. I had them too, but I decided to go with it, just for the heck of it.

In the aftermath, what I appreciated most was the outpouring of love and support. A few of my friends who fell for it responded in kind when they passed along this viral joke.

But I do have to admit, I was a bit taken a-back when one FB friend unexpectedly unfriended me over this with nothing other than "sorry, I have to unfriend you."

Frankly, I am still scratching my head over that. I wrote back, apologized and waited for the explanation that never came. *sigh* I could be flippant and say "Oh well, it's his loss." But it was mine too.

This all goes to prove, and woe be to us all, if we do not recognize that not all FB friends are really friends. For me, in the case of this friend, I did think he was more than just a FB friend and was saddened by his actions since I don't understand them.

But back to the point of this posting. I really want to thank those who wrote warm words of support. A good deal of those were Navy folk, which to me was great seeing too. We, those who serve, have always referred to ourselves "as family."


The responses I received last night made me feel exactly like that... family

I greatly appreciated it! Big hug!

1 comment:

  1. I don't do those kinds of "this will help support breast cancer research" things, either, because they really don't. However, I realize that sometimes it's just for fun, and people can choose to participate or not.

    However, what an unexpected surprise this gave you. Sounds like it was about 95% positive, which was obviously very gratifying and had to make you feel good! Too bad about that negative 5%, and it's shameful that they were too much of a coward to discuss it with you. Somehow you threatened their belief system, and if that's all it takes to threaten your belief system, then that's a pretty pathetic belief system, in my opinion!

    Good for you, my friend. {{hugs}}

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