Facebook's answer to the icebreaker

So have you all seen the 25 random things list that your friends are posting on Facebook? I think its pretty interesting, its a great way to learn about your friends if they do the list the right way.... without thinking. Too many people censor themselves these days, they don't just say things... they contemplate, they reread their emails multiple times before hitting send (or submit on the list in this example), they even reread it after hitting submit. Its crazy.

To the people who are just typing the list and posting it, I say Bravo!

People need to just say what they mean, mean what they so and not stress so much over what people will think or how they will react. Don't get me wrong. I don't mean that you shouldn't care about people's feelings. If you hate someone's clothes or mannerisms, you need to weigh how much it bothers you and how much it effects you and then determine the best approach to communicate it, if in fact you should communicate it. Because as I learned in a recent class that I took with RJ, words can kill. Which reminds me of a little story so I'm going to digress, buckle your seat belts and hold on-----

A few years a go, almost a decade now, I visited Tombstone. While there, I saw the reenactment of the shootout at the OK Corral. Before the show, one of the gunmen came out and pointed the gun at another man. He then threw the gun on the ground and yelled bang bang! I turned to my friend with what I like to call my WTF face. The gunman then said "See guns don't kill people, people kill people". Yeah my friend and I are from a democratic state and grew up with afterschool specials and David Silver's best friend accidentally shooting themselves. I'm not against the right to bear arms, my Dad collects guns (recent, post my sisters and I growing up) but at the same time....without guns, it'd be a lot harder to kill people and harder to have accidents resulting in death so I had trouble with that little intro. Ok, are you still with me?

So anyway, at the class that RJ and I attended, the teacher said that the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" means more than violence, it includes words. Don't worry, I'm not religious and I'm not about to preach. But what I found interesting about this interpretation is that my soul or livelihood has been "killed" many times by someone's words... even more so than their actions. So to bring it back to my point (come on, wipe that fake surprised look off your face, by now you know I'm long winded), I think if you have to criticize someone it should be constructive to help them and not to hurt them. Words sting. But when you are dealing with yourself; things you love, things you don't, things unique to you, your fears, your beliefs etc... stop caring about what other people think and "say what you need to say" I love that John Mayer song so much that when it comes on my ipod, I put it on repeat three times for the walk from the bus to the office to start the day off right. And my favorite part...

"You better know that in the end
It's better to say too much
Than to never say what you need to say again
Even if your hands are shakin'
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closin'
Do it with a heart wide open"

So if you haven't already done the 25 random things about you list, do yourself a favor.... do it without thinking... just say what you need to say