We need more front porches

 

I have a variety of friends, some cultivated over years of conversation and some, simply because we have something in common.

The interaction between some of my friends continues to baffle me and with social media becoming so prevalent in most peoples' lives, it becomes even more interesting. People watching, if you will, on typed conversations. 

I had noticed that people tolerate other people complaining about their jobs much more than they do when a teacher complains. If a teacher complains everyone begins with the, "You knew what you were getting in to." "I thought you loved the kids." "Yeah, but you get summers off," The list can go on forever. I posted something on social media about this. 

Normally, I don't get a lot of response to my posts but I had one of my teacher peeps respond that he didn't put up with anyone complaining about their work, etc. I didn't think too much about it; he is what I call a conservative liberal and he does like to make statements just for the sake of arguing but he is fun and I laugh a lot. 

Then one of my other friends responded with a pretty vitriolic answer. I was actually surprised because I did not find what friend number one said to be that right winged. Then, of course, my other friend came back with a "Who pissed in your Wheaties?" question/

At that point, I wrote another post explaining who each was and telling them no fighting on my page. One poster removed his comments and apologized.

As our society continues to split and humans become more and more removed from each other, dependent on technology to communicate, I think we need more houses with front porches, open to our friends, where you could grab a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee and talk. Just talk about things. And listen. Just listen about things. I think there would be less misunderstanding and more tolerance for different ideas. 

Just make sure the ones in Florida are screened. I think we can all agree that we don't like mosquitoes.