DISPOSABLE

I am a small town kid from PA that STILL has not gotten used to being disposable.

That's what it seems life is getting to more and more. I experienced it while living in Philly and DC, but I chalked that up to so many people in a relatively small area. "Why bother with this one when there's another coming right behind them?" It was a sad realization for me, I have to say.

Growing up, I always valued people around me. I don't know if this was because, as a family, we stayed pretty much to ourselves. It was a treat to have ANYONE else to interact with. Their stories, opinions, and outlook might have been different than mine, but I still enjoyed their perspective. That's why Twitter is so hard for me to get fully invested.

The ability to cut someone out IMMEDIATELY has diminished the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and concerns for many. Our voice is not heard, but seemingly tolerated until another person's opinion can be sent out. With all the knowledge and life experiences in social media at any given moment, it is sad that we don't have a better understanding of each other and more compassion for one another than ever before. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. It's easy to forget that in order for you to spell "twitter" you need a "twitt"....

To truly affect change, we MUST have the ability to recognize the challenges of people different than us, growing up in conditions not like ours, and with less/more opportunity to change their circumstances than we can. It is up to those with advantages to level the playing field so that ALL can thrive. This goes for social media as well as for the world at large,

How TRULY open is YOUR mind to the opinions of others?