“LIKE DRAGON”

For Melanie.

Something happened yesterday that could easily be called miraculous. 

I posted something about the ‘like’ button, and got a lot of interesting comments.  The original post was…I going to sprint quite quickly through this today because I have a lot of writing at home to finish, but it needs to be acknowledged.  If I don't...I won't be able to concentrate.  

Hell, I couldn't concentrate last night; couldn't stop thinking about...

such honesty.  It bowled me over. 

Anyway, this was my original post; it's still out there; 

‘when you post a comment on someone's thread, and everyone else around you gets a 'like' except you...buddy...that's yr ass.’

It was meant to be humourous, flip.  I was referring to an isolated incident last week, & I was interested in what my brain was doing when I saw that all twenty odd comments around mine in a thread were ‘liked’...

every one except mine. 

I observed something very strange going on in my head when I saw it. When I observe behaviour in myself that is potentially suspicious, I generally like to consult with my ‘peeps’. 

It was an isolated incident…& it only came up because everyone around me was liked, and not me.  

(I am NOT referring to when you leave a comment on someone’s wall, & you are the only one, and you are not ‘liked’, or a bunch of you are there and none of you are ‘liked’…

I am talking about when you are the only one in a group not acknowledged. 

I DID mention that you never know what is going on in someone's life; maybe they just missed you out...maybe they are having a bad day...

they might be angry at you...

or it could be ALL...

or NONE of the above.  We should NEVER make assumptions about other people's lives.  


So...I wanted to take a closer look at all that went on in my brain, over this one tiny insignificant thing.  

I did ask her about it…and she assured me it was fine.   So really?  It was a lot of dram over nothing.  Which is why I made a joke out of it.  

But you can't just say 'I was just kidding', and walk away from it...Everyone knows, behind every joke...is a TRUTH.  

So...was it just a lot of drama over nothing, or is there something else going on here??


I am related to Shakespeare, so naturally I love drama.  

& this?  A lot of sound an fury, signifying...nothing.  



But is it nothing?  Why did this 'like' crap matter??

I wrote this afterward, and it's true; 


‘i don't like to offend people without checking. i'm not always Subtle Cecil. So...i find the 'like' button has a practical use for me.  i did say i am not a 'like' junkie, although it is nice when you get approval from the village, so, you have to learn to balance things, without letting the ego run riot. 

however, i know for a fact there there are people out there who like nothing more than exposing someone as an egotist. if they enjoy that...

i say let the baby have it's bottle. i have other concerns, so i don't worry about being accused of it.'t 

& that's true.  Some people out there will always want to find fault; it gives them pleasure.  What matters is whether or not YOU can look at yourself in the mirror.  


So why is this even an issue?  Why is a 'like' so important?

For ME??  

"i find the 'like' button on someone else's wall very very handy. You see, owing to a number of factors...(upbringing, trauma, addiction issues, etc) for a grown man, i have the social skills of a rutting jackyl. So...I find the 'like' button very handy for checking to make sure I comment appropriately, and not offensively. if i do not get a 'like' & everyone else does...to me that could indicate that i have said the wrong thing, and i check to make sure, and then make the necessary adjustments. it helps me be a better, more socially empathetic human being. on the other hand...you don't want to surrender your personality totally, either. it's a balancing act, right?"

As I said, I would not regard myself as a ‘like addict’…I guess I am trying to keep an eye on my social interaction, so I can learn to contribute better.  

And, as a writer, it is handy to write things, and see which ones work, which don’t, and if possible why.

I also mentioned that I had poor social skills.  So the like button helped me to contribute better. 

Now, only a liar would pretend they don’t care about the 'likes'.

HOWEVER…I would like to think that I have evolved as a human being since first joining FB.  I have made a concerted effort, particularly over the last few years, to find a way to improve my social skills, improve my writing, and improve my contribution to human kind. 

So, if there is anyone here who thinks I have not evolved in any way shape or form, and are merely garnering attention…

then I have been able to facilitate NO emotional, spiritual, psychological or practical growth.  & thus, would be better off killing myself forthwith and hurling myself in the ocean as chum. 

I don’t know much, but I know this…I am a much better person than I was a few years ago, and that is a direct result of my interaction with people on FB.  THAT much I will admit.  Cheerfully.

But my friend Melanie admitted she was a ‘like addict’.  Which I think is incredibly courageous and self aware.  

I don’t always know why I post things; sometimes, it is to alleviate the drudgery of my work.  Writing is satisfying, but anyone who says there is not a lot of drudgery is probably not doing it right.  Sometimes it is to reach out and touch another person. 

In this case, I wanted to be funny about something is kind of juvenile; you see, sometimes I am embarrassed that at this age, I am STILL working on crap like this.  


Whether I am watching my ‘likes’ because I am trying to monitor my social skills in case I should venture into the inappropriate, or begging for attention, is kind of irrelevant.  To still be working on your social skills at my age is pretty pathetic. Sometimes I post things in order to help my subconscious deal with something so subtle and ingrained, it will not even share it willingly with my conscious mind, so I have to coax it out with stuff on FB.  

But this time…I got a gift more valuable than all the riches in Persia. I got a young woman admitting her vulnerability, her human frailty. 

If I was to expose a vulnerability?  It would be that I do not want to be alone.  & when I post something, and a human being responds by showing me something of herself, who she is…


it is the most beautiful gift in the world.  For a human being to open up like that and expose their vulnerability…is a miracle to me. 

It inspires me to keep going.