Sticks and Stones and Seducers

In CYBERSPACE we have to keep on feet firmly planted, but WHERE and HOW? Just like in real life, it is with a thought first. We have to tell ourselves things like STICKS and STONES and BEWARE of a WOLF in SHEEP SKIN and we have to KNOW OUR SELF inside and out and not be TOO HURT or TOO DECEIVED.

I have been on this Senior Chatters site for about two years and it is the first and only chat site that I stayed on long enough to know what happens. First, I met some wonderful and caring and kind people and that is why I stayed. Then, I heard some childish spats between members. Much later I heard of the SEDUCERS and women with broken hearts and empty promises. Men may have been seduced, but I did not hear of those. I also heard of people with really hurt feelings and losing friends here. Here in cyberspace things can be even more mesmerizing than real life and more powerful. We can bond and make good friends, we can fight and squabble, and we can navigate and sail through safely. I believe this and that is why I am still here. All of us are vulnerable, and so am I, but that is life. Cyberspace is new for all of us.

Honestly, I was not prepared for the hypnotic mesmerizing effect of cyberspace relationships, and that can be a good thing or a bad thing. I did resolve to take no cyberspace relationships too seriously. I was keeping a perspective and planting my feet in a real world.. I was not looking for love and close friends here but I was not prepared for cyberspace, but keeping myself grounded has been a good thing. I am thousands of miles away from some of my favorite people here, so they are words on a page, and they are flesh and blood people and so am I. Our full humanity is here but at the click of a button, we or they disappear. HEY, I was mesmerized and hypnotized and it was fun, but I kept myself grounded and went on with life in a sensible manner. All my friends have been good people and enriched my life here. I steer clear of seducers and angry or desperate people. You have to do that here or anywhere else.

We all need to keep ourselves grounded. We are mature. We are about as experienced as we are ever going to be. There are seducers here. Maybe I seduced or was seduced and felt the magic of a cyberspace relationship, but it ended for a good reason and in a good way. I hope I have friends here. I thnk I do. I certainly have people here who make me a better person and give me faith that the world is a kind place and good people are to be found.

“STICKS and STONES” does work here. So does BEWARE of the WOLF in SHEEPSKIN. We cannot get caught up in people and their words. We should know ourselves by now and look in the mirror often. The really good thing about cyberspace is that we don’t have to prove anything here. We just need to learn to be a likable person and work on that. I have been mesmerized and I had a few wiseacre (polite term) remarks, but I return in kind or just ignore depending on the rationality of the person. My blogs have been insulted but only twice that I have heard, but I cannot let two negative comments erase hundreds of good ones. You cannot let the negative in life knock out of your game of life. Stand your ground and play your game, your way.

I do like the power and magic of cyberspace and technology, but it is also powerful and therefore dangerous but can be totally exhilarating and add another dimension to our senior shrinking life. Cyberspace is life in the 21st century and we all just need to deal with it. Have fun here, and dust yourself off when necessary and get right back up and stand even taller with a stiffer backbone.