Being Kind

As a blogger.. and as a millenial.. social media is a huge part of my life. Some of my slightly older (but still very good looking) audience might be nodding your head in approval and thinking "yes.. too much.. you millenials don't ever look up from a screen." While that's a post for another time, or you can read my "Hang Up to Hang Out" post, that's not totally why I'm here today.  Today, we are here to discuss how to appropriately use social media, mainly twitter, because it is this platform that had me all riled up yesterday while I was in my house by myself. 
Here are a few examples of how Twitter should be used. 

Ha! That's funny Dirk. Dirk doesn't want 39 to be brought up.. he also made fun of himself the other day when a video game tweeted they were aware of the Dirk issues and trying to fix it... Dirk tweeted "I have enough issues in real life, I don't need more in a video game!" Funny. Appropriate usage of Twitter.

My favorite author tweeting about having one of my new favorite artists on her podcast!!! Thank you for tweeting this! I will listen to it today!! Appropriate usage of Twitter.

WHAT?! Breaking News! Gluten free buns at Chick Fil A?? My sisters both said they would probably just get the nuggets, but sometimes you are craving a sandwich and it's going to be awesome to have the possibility of getting one there!! Definite appropriate usage of Twitter!

College volleyball fills up 37% of my Twitter timeline. When I watched the USA Men's game vs Poland on Sunday I had to ban myself from Twitter because the TV viewing wasn't live. I saw who won the first set before the TV viewing even started. But y'all, Baylor volleyball.. coming off a season where they made it to the NCAA tournament and only graduated two seniors?! It's gonna be a good season. Appropriate usage of Twitter.  By now are you wondering where the inappropriate usage of Twitter is going to come into play? It's now. I began my day Monday with scrolling through Twitter. It was one of the first things I saw and it's had me stewing these last couple days. Let me preface this with saying, this is not inappropriate as in don't let your children see.... this is inappropriate as in -- THIS is what is WRONG with the WORLD today. 

I'm just gonna let that sink in for a minute.  I do not ever respond to people I don't know on Twitter.. but I had typed out 3 different responses that I was ready to hit "tweet" on, but I didn't. I just went back and checked the tweet.. 97 replies to this questions. Most of them talking about common courtesy and manners, a few of them telling this guy to shout "you're welcome."  Out of the 97, there were 5 people who had the response that I wanted to tweet. What was your purpose for holding the door open? My hope would be that the answer to that question is kindness. 
But, is it still kindness when you expect something in return? I, truly, think the answer to this question is no.  The other word that I cannot get out of my mind is grace. Let's be real, you do not know the person you are holding the door open for. What if, they just got the worst news ever? What if they don't feel well and are just trying to make it through the day? What if their momma did not teach them to say thank you? Can we give them grace instead of sub-tweeting about them?  There's a popular phrase I see quite often now - "Throw kindness like confetti" I can definitely get behind that.. but let's make sure we're throwing true kindness. What's the purpose of your act? Is your end game recognition, or is it to subtly help someone out or be a bright spot in someone's day.  One of my mom's friends is the kindest person I know. Since my mom is a preschool minister, her Sundays are crazy, and often very long. Ms. Jody brings my mom a diet coke and styrofoam cup with Sonic ice every single Sunday and leaves it in the same spot. Most Sundays they do not even see each other, but Ms. Jody brings it and it's there. This has been happening for year and I know my mom is thankful. It's a gift Ms. Jody has.. she is kind, considerate, and it's how she shows her love. That's what ended my stewing over this one random person on twitter. I reflected back to my verse of 2017. 1 John 4:7 - "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God."  We can show our love by being kind and opening a door for someone... even if they do not say thank you.