Do You Need To Unfriend Someone On Social Media If You Disagree With Them?

People are people and will always have differing opinions and that's fine. That is what makes us individuals, our own person, so to speak. Want to know a sure fire way to get a disagreement started online? Post an opinion online, sit back... and wait for the fireworks to start... and trust me, they will start! The night sky will light up like the Fourth of July!!!  I have had more "friends" and even family members unfriend me on Facebook from just asserting my opinion. Really? Because, ya' know, I don't always agree with your opinions or posts, but do I unfriend you? NO. Meh, that's okay, I understand. Completely. No, really, I do!

Let me explain... I don't always agree with everything I think or say, but I can't unfriend myself. Just because you "think" something doesn't always mean you are correct in your thinking. More research is sometimes necessary before an informed opinion can be stated. I believe in research. Love it, in fact. I will research the hell daylights out of something I'm interested in. Someone will ask me a question about something and the next thing you know, I have 257 tabs open. One question leads to another... or what I call, "Just a day in the life of Dewanna" aka "curiosity hasn't killed this cat... yet".

I often disagree with my friends posts, but do I fire up that CAPS lock and bombard them with my opinion or good Lord forbid, tell them that GOD wouldn't like what they are saying? That would be a resounding NO! and I'll tell you why. Everyone has the right to their opinion. Don't like it... keep scrolling. Keep your mouth shut. And. Just. Keep. Scrolling. You will keep more friends that way. Unfortunately, not everyone follows this advice, hence the need to unfriend people who don't agree with the way you think. And do you really feel the need to bring GOD into the equation? Really? Just because you disagree with someone? Alright, you are the better Christian (according to YOUR opinion). I'll wait until I'm standing before the Pearly Gates before I'll pull the GOD card on anyone. Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Do I care if someone unfriends me? Meh, not really. What bothers me most, is the fact they didn't take the time to state WHY they felt it necessary to unfriend me in the first place. I'm curious about human behavior. I always want to know why, ya' know? And because I am apparently very good at offending people without meaning too. Open mouth, insert foot. One of the many reasons I don't speak very much or have very many friends. The few I do call friends are aware and tolerant of my eccentricities.

Have "I" unfriended people? Yes, yes, I have. I can count on one hand the number of people I have unfriended. These are the people who kept interjecting THEIR opinions on why they thought MY opinions where wrong! If I wanted YOUR opinion in the first damned place, I'd have specifically tagged you, so you could interject your opinion on why I'm wrong about MY opinion. But, I didn't. So don't you think you should just keep quiet and keep scrolling... like I do with your posts?

So, is it really necessary to unfriend someone you disagree with? No, just be a mature, rational, thinking individual and realize that not everyone will agree with you on everything you post and all will be copacetic. Keep quiet and keep scrolling, my friends!

Riding with Guy or A Need for Speed

One of the greatest men I ever knew was my Papaw Thomas. My mother's father was a tall, handsome man with coal black hair and a very, very dark complexion. His mother was full blooded Indian, although what kind, no one in our family seems to know. Grandma Thomas, my great-grandmother, was a tiny, little bitty thing who stood about five foot and Papaw was about six foot three inches and weighed close to two hundred pounds. It always amazed me that such a tiny woman could have such a large man for a son. When I was six years old, I could look her in the eye. When we would go visit her, I would watch amazed and in complete awe as she brushed her floor length hair (she LITERALLY picked it up OFF the floor) and rolled it into a bun on the top of her head. I know nothing of Grandpa Thomas, my great-grandfather, since he died before I was born.

But, back to Guy Hoye Thomas... whose name was actually Guy Thomas. When he joined the military to fight in World War II, he was told that he had to list a middle name. When he told them he didn't have one, they "recommended" that he make one up. So "Hoye" (pronounced like boy) became part of his full name.

Papaw was one of the hardest working men I've ever known, other than my dad and my husband. They worked from "can until can't" and "dawn until dusk" and totally put me to shame. I always felt like such a wimp around them when I'd say I was tired.

Papaw was a Deacon in the church and you were forced required to attend church on Wednesday night and both services on Sunday. Everyone in the family was required to go and you'd better be on your death bed to get out of attending or you got a "call" afterwards. And don't even be stupid enough to go eat Sunday dinner at Mamaw and Papaw's house after Sunday services if you didn't attend. Yeah, you really didn't want to do that...

I can never remember Pappaw raising his voice or scolding me when I was growing up, other than two times and one so traumatized me I don't even remember it. The story goes, that once, when I was little he whipped me for telling my baby doll that I was going to "whip her BUTT". Cursing was not allowed  and the saying of the word "BUTT" was apparently deemed a curse word when said by a child. Obviously, it was SO traumatic I completely wiped it from my memories. Then, when I was about 15, I was riding our three-wheeler and jumping the ditch bank. He saw me, just as I caught major air and threatened to whip me until I couldn't sit down for a month of Sunday's. I was in serious trouble! But, I had this serious need for speed and I got it from my Papaw.

Papaw always drove like a bat out of hell he was a NASCAR driver fast approaching the finish line with a trail of cars attempting to pass him on both sides. The poor man was afflicted with what came to be known in our family as the "Thomas Lead Foot." He drove...FAST...everywhere. My grandmother, Ms. Mary, or Mayree as Papaw called her, never learned to drive other than occasionally in the pasture. My theory was after years of his driving, she suffered from terminal vehicular terror.

 And then, there was the time he ALMOST threw me off the back of the truck tailgate while he was FLYING driving around a sharp curve. We had finished working in the fields (we didn't have "gardens" we had fields or pastures) of whatever vegetable we were picking that day and were riding back to the house on the tailgate of the truck. Since we had a truckload of whatever vegetable we had gathered and kids piled on top, some of the older kids got to ride on the tailgate. This was a major right of passage y'all and I had finally hit the big time. We were riding along when he hit a curve and sped up just a wee bit. That wee bit was enough to throw me off balance and suddenly I was staring at the road passing in front of my eyes at an astonishingly close point.

My aunts grabbed onto my clothing, arms, legs whatever flailed into their view and held on while screaming for Lead Foot Thomas to slow down! Eventually, he did and I was helped upright once again. I believe my "noodle" legs started working again after an hour or so. Did this teach Guy "Lead Foot" Thomas a lesson in slowing down? No, of course not, he did the same thing to my brother several years later, only it was on a dirt road and his head may have bumped on the ground once... or ten times. And that, is the story of where I get my need for speed.

Shirt without the R

My grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Pogue Thomas aka Ms. Mary (pronounced Mayree by my papaw) aka Mamaw, was known around the parish (in Louisiana y'all, we have parishes instead of counties like the rest of the country, don'tcha know) as one of the best cooks around. And she was. Mamaw could whip up enough food to feed a small army in the time it takes to brush your teeth. I was in awe watching this woman in action.

Every Sunday that rolled around we couldn't wait to get out of church, change clothes and head to Mamaw and Papaw Thomas' house to eat. Sometimes we'd even bring friends with us, especially if they found out she had made her yeast rolls, then they were practically begging to come eat. On any given Sunday there would be anywhere from 10-30 people set their feet under Ms. Mary's table. Some of us would help set the table, while others fixed glasses of her sweet tea or started carrying food to the table. When everything was ready, Mamaw would yell, "Guy, come eat." Guy was my Papaw Thomas. He was the patriarch of the family and sat at the head of the table directing everyone like a Four Star General. Mamaw always put food on his plate for him before helping hers.

A standard Sunday dinner would consist of cream corn, purple hull peas, homemade macaroni & cheese, cornbread, roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls (if you were lucky and it was a special occasion) and a couple of cakes or pies. Good nourishing, stick-to-your-ribs home cooking.

We planted, picked, shelled, shucked and canned the majority of our food. We raised ACRES of food to provide for the whole family, which consisted of my grandparents, my parents, my three aunts and their families. The pea patch was about a half acre itself. Dear Lord, I hated picking peas, but come dinner time I loved them.

We're country around here and farmed most of our lives, so we aren't real big on manners when it comes to eating... other than talking with your mouth full (no-no) or putting your elbows on the table (unless it's to prop your head because you've been hauling watermelons since daylight and you didn't have enough strength left to hold your head up straight so you wouldn't choke to death while eating), but other than that you're good.

The food was served directly from the boilers (Southern-ism) for pots and pans, with cooking ladles being the preferred method of transporting food directly from the boiler onto your plate. There were so many of us, if we'd used serving spoons... there would still be people waiting to eat until dark thirty.

I don't remember what happened or even when, but one day I heard my grandmother, oh, this was after I was married with children of my own, utter a curse word... or as close to one as my mamaw got. It was sh*t! or as she said "Shirt without the R!" Wait, what? It took me a moment to realize what she meant. My brain completely spazzed out and would not process the fact that Ms. Mary, wife of a church deacon and veritable saint had attempted to curse. Nay, I misunderstood, this simply could not be. I asked my aunt, who by this time was laughing so hard she was red in the face and gasping for air like a land-stranded fish, if I had heard correctly. She confirmed that yes, indeed I had.

The. World. Is. Ending. Or so I believed. The woman I thought was in line to be canonized into sainthood was just as human as me. Hmm, well, alrighty then.

From the time I can remember until the day she passed away, that was the one and ONLY time I ever heard my grandmother cuss. Shirt. Without. The. R.

A Country Founded by Geniuses but Run by Idiots

Attributed to Jeff Foxworthy:

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for entering and remaining in the country illegally — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or to take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you MUST show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government wants to prevent stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds, but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If, in the nation’s largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not one 24-ounce soda, because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman or a three-year-old girl who is confined to a wheelchair can be strip-searched by the TSA at the airport, but a woman in a burka or a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government regulation and intrusion, while not working is rewarded with Food Stamps, WIC checks, Medicaid benefits, subsidized housing, and free cell phones — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government’s plan for getting people back to work is to provide incentives for not working, by granting 99 weeks of unemployment checks, without any requirement to prove that gainful employment was diligently sought, but couldn’t be found — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big-screen TV, while your neighbor buys iPhones, time shares, a wall-sized do-it-all plasma screen TV and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If being stripped of your Constitutional right to defend yourself makes you more “safe” according to the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

What a country!

How about we give God a reason to continue blessing America!

Shopping with GG... Oy Vay!

Just for the record... I despise shopping. Wholeheartedly, undeniably, hate it, loath it with every. fiber. of. my. being. And my daughter loves it. *sob*

For some reason, whenever GG needs to go shopping for "just a few things" it always turns into a full day, half the night and several hundred dollars worth of merchandise. By the time I drag myself into the house, I'm tired, sore, and broke again. But, this is her Senior year and my husband and I knew it would be expensive, sooo...

So far, I've purchased the requisite Homecoming dress, shoes and hairdo. Then there was the Senior cruise to Cozumel... that I was told I couldn't go under any circumstances that they had enough chaperons and all the required cruise clothes and shoes.

Then this past weekend we made a flying trip to the mall for a Prom dress. Thank you sweet baby Jesus we had already purchased shoes! She had found the dress online at Dillards, so we went and picked it up... after trying it on, along with fifty bajillion six other dresses. We left at 4 pm and got home that night at 11 pm. Now we just have to get jewelry and hair done... and a date. She STILL doesn't have a date!

It will take me half the year to pay off my poor credit cards. Poor, poor things.

Ack! Update: she now has a date! Yay, maybe now peace will reign in my house again... Until the next shopping expedition anyway. *sigh*

I did not write this, but I believe it needs to be said and shared... over and over again.



WAL-MART VS. THE MORONS (NOT A JOKE)

I know lots of folks don't like Wal-Mart, but this is fascinating.

This is spot-on.

PLEASE, READ THIS TO THE END. IT IS VERY INTERESTING!!!

Wal-Mart vs. The Morons

1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.

2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!

3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March
17th) than Target sells all year.

4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target +Sears + Costco

K-Mart combined.

5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private
employer, and most speak English.

6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.

7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and
keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years.

8. During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought
bankruptcy.

9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are
Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.

11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur
at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart.
You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground
work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart
to fix the economy.

This should be read and understood by all Americans… Democrats,
Republicans, EVERYONE!!

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,
it is now official that the majority of you are corrupt morons:

a. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234
years to get it right and it is broke.

b. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to
get it right and it is broke.

c. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get
it right and it is broke.

d. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it
right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to
"the poor" and they only want more.

e. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44
years to get it right and they are broke.

f. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get
it right and it is broke.

g. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our
dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of
$24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get
it right and it is an abysmal failure.

You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our
throats while overspending our tax dollars.

AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED
WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end
up in the e-mails of some of our "duly elected' (they never read anything)
and their staff will clue them in on how Americans feel.

AND

I know what's wrong. We have lost our minds to "Political Correctness"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone please tell me what is wrong with all the people that
run this country!!!!!!

We're "broke" and can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless
etc. and the last months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile, and Turkey and now
Pakistan ( the previous home of bin Laden). literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed income' receive no aid nor do
they get any breaks.

AMERICA: a country where we have homeless without shelter, children
going to bed hungry, elderly going without needed medicines, and mentally ill
without treatment, etc.

Imagine if the GOVERNMENT gave U. S. the same support they give to
other countries. Sad isn't it?

Socialism

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on) These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Can you think of a reason for not sharing this?
Neither could I.