Sunday, September 29, 2013

To My Regular Readers.....

Fall Reflections

I have made a decision.  My blog was always a place to make you smile, share each day's magic moments, create a collective "Awwwww" over something one of the animals did, bring me - and you, I hope - peace and happiness. I lost my focus with the whole importation/ethical rescue thing, and it all began with facebook.

Ever since I started using facebook, all the Oh My God This Is Awful stories and pictures have popped up on my newsfeed, all the outrage and debate and defensiveness and frustration has come flooding out of my computer every time I turn it on - in comments and emails, on facebook and blogs.  In the last two days, another 500 people viewed those importation posts - it is clearly experiencing a whole new round of facebook shares among importers and their supporters. And I am deleting nasty, unhelpful comments and emails as fast as they come in.

And to be honest, I am sick of it.  It is like a never ending newsreel of Bad Bad Bad news.  It's not who I am or how I want to live my life.  I prefer to be an ostrich.

So later today I will write one more blog about importing and rescue - much of which will be in point form - to bring closure to that issue.  It will be posted tonight or tomorrow morning.  I will not publish any comments on it, nor respond to any emails about it.  Take it for what it is worth, and if it is worth nothing to you then ignore it.

And tomorrow, I shall delete all facebook contacts who are not family or personal friends, I shall unharness myself from groups and loops that I don't want to be caught up in, I shall go back to my quiet 'I help-with-homechecks-and-transports' type of rescue work only, and I shall disconnect from the negativity that is pulling me down, affecting my sleep and my health and peace of mind.

Tomorrow night, I shall resume my old style of blogging - frequent, short, happy stories and photos. Starting with a beautiful morning sunrise from last week, and a story of some deer.  Life is too short to get bogged down in crap.

I hope you will say "Welcome Back".

jean


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't use facebook very much and have only 10 contacts. Unfortunately one of them befriended a lady who posted nothing but negative horror stories of abused and neglected dogs, complete with pictures. She would post up to 20x a day everyday. I blocked her, but not being tech savy I didn't realize at the time, that you had to block her name in more than one location. Anyway I got it sorted out and it is such a relief not to have all that negativity coming through every day.
I do enjoy your posts, so please keep up the posts about your dogs and your home town.


Donna

Anonymous said...

Welcome back--I don't use facebook at all! The OK critters and I will be very glad to have "Serene, happy Jean back!!

Anonymous said...

AAAhhh..
Yes imports is a can of worms for sure. Mind so is facebook:>) Which I have made a point not to join - hard as that is at times. Read a funny article recently on how if one does not FB it is so downright strange - not to be a member - that it must mean one is a deviant:>)
So the right to privacy, and to peace of mind.. is a hard thing to balance nowadays.
Thanks for what you share with us.
Always enjoy the pictures and stories.
J.

Jean said...

And there's now a huge storm outside and my lights are flickering and 'browning out' , so I'm shutting the computer off for the night - which means the final post on importing won't be up tonight for sure.

Anonymous said...

Yes Welcome Back, Jean! I never comment it seems but I do enjoy your blog, the old type one, that is fun to read! Yes indeed life is too short to get bogged down in the garbage and bad news stories! Big Hug
Aileen

Caroline A said...

Life is too short indeed!
Your regular blogs make me start my day with a huge grin and frequently a good laugh!

I do appreciate a thought provoking blog as well, however reading the kind of stress you have to deal with afterwards make those NOT worth it!

Anonymous said...

I am signed onto face book and I don't use/comment or look at what's on there ever actually.
It occurs to me that it's mostly just a receptacle for animal/environment petitions etc. I often sign & sometimes "share".
Therefore, I wonder if it might be in a similar category to one of the not so pleasant face book pages you are referring to ??.... I don't even know!
Cheers, Wendy

Anonymous said...

Yaa for you. I love your blogs.

King and The Pack said...

Aunty Jean -
We hear you and understand fully!

Oh and Lady May says, "Oops, yes she made a mistake, that was not Eddie it was Sadie B and she will try to remember all her new friends better from now on!"

Oh and "Welcome back!"

Marie said...

Welcome Back Indeed!
I love reading your blog and I'm so glad that you will be back, putting a happy feeling in my heart each time.
Best of wishes from Marie and Sparkle!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. I have stayed away from facebook. Don't need the drama and what you say or post is there forever.

Jean said...

Okay, let's make that Tuesday morning for the last post on importation and Tuesday night for the return to regular programming - barring any more big storms. Organizing a hundred or more pages of notes into a succinct 1000 word blog post is taking much more time than I'd hoped, even having taken into account dog care and other commitments. :)

Mark said...

I have never done FB,Twitter or any other social media, guess that makes me "anti-social" does it? I have a real concern over online privacy and now FB is allowing people to edit posts, this is a real good way of getting back at people, eg. you could post "I love my cat" wait until you get 50 people liking this and the go in and edit the post to now read " I love Hitler". All those likes will still be there even though the post has been edited. All FB is interested in is making money and their shares aren't worth much as it is.

I like your blog just as it is with stories and pics of your local stuff and camping trips.

Anonymous said...

Welcome Back Jean. I know how upsetting all this has been for you. Now hopefully you can put it all behind you and get your life back to normal.

Else

Anonymous said...

Welcome back..I enjoy your blog & your newsy stories of the locals & animals...look forward to your future posts..
Regards Marion

Dawn said...

Jean, I so look forward to your reflections on the area you live in and the wonderful people and animals you meet.

Welcome Back!

Karen said...

My involvement with rescue has always been limited to providing a warm safe home to a few dogs (and a donkey) in need, and offering some financial support to a couple of rescue societies as able...the politics of rescue are brutal and I know I'd be emotionally destroyed by a more intimate involvement. So, welcome back, Jean :)

Jill said...

Welcome back from Kansas! I had to block some facebook people who did the same thing you went through and I had to block some others who constantly called for foster home help but would never contact me regardless of the countless messages I left. It would then break my heart to find out the dog was "unable to be helped". I like it much better this way. There are countless other ways to help. I love your photography and your heart.
Jill