My Facebook post blows up: a series

The first thing I should mention is that yesterday was a really busy day.

I did try writing a blog post. I wasn't sure what I really wanted to write about, but the real problem was that I kept leaving. That also affected what happened on Facebook.

The first thing that happened was that the day before, I found out that someone died.

This was someone I met in first grade, and spent a fair amount of time with in junior high, but we were not close. Fair or not, I never really liked him. I know a lot of other people had problems with him over the years.

Suddenly everyone was so sad over his passing.

Okay, that's fair. Not everyone has the same experiences. I just kept finding it more irritating that there was all this praise. Like, I remember when a bunch of people were blocking him; did we just forget that? Or did the blocks work so well that those people hadn't heard? 

Good riddance posts would probably be in bad taste.

Fair or not, I was getting more irritated. 

This was all happening on Facebook, so there I wrote" “I am feeling very hard-hearted today, because that guy was a creep and a jerk.”

This was someone from school, but the first people seeing my posts were from church.

It had not occurred to me at all that this particular post could sound like it was about a bad breakup or failed romantic relationship. Probably school friends would be less likely to think that I would post anything about dating, but I was getting some sympathy that I had not expected.

I also got one direct message from a school friend asking about identity. More of those came later.

I wrote a reply for clarification:

"He's from school. I remember a lot of people blocking him as he relentlessly attacked their political posts, and also him hitting on girl after girl with the exact same words, even while living with someone, and that if someone needed support after being bullied that he always favored the bully, but sure. Great guy."

Plus in that conversation I mentioned that he was dead, which probably removed any doubt. 

But also, I left. First I went on the Franz Bakery tour, which was great. Later that night there was a church activity, plus setting up before and cleaning up after. There was a lot of time when I simply was not looking at things.

Then I got back home and looked. Oh. 

A lot of people chimed in. Some were surprised, but no, in fact, there were people who remembered those aspects about him. There were also people who did really feel grief, but could acknowledge those aspects. 

There were also people who were shocked, and that is not surprising.

There was a lot to think about, regarding death and how we remember people and misogyny and safe spaces and communication. I wrote a lot in my journal last night, and remembered other things that so I wrote more this morning. I am going to spend some time on this.

I had not been sure what to write about, but sometimes information presents itself.