I recently had an experience that really gave me quite a jolt.

With it being Black History month I came across an image of a woman who was lynched (hanged) and what had happened to her. This was less than a hundred years ago, and it got me thinking about my own growing up in the small town of Dundas, Ontario.

Oh Canadians can be so gosh darn smug!!!

But really we’re no better.

I made a comment about how this lynching had happened still within the period of a person’s life span. Not that long ago, and I remember growing up in the ’60’s and ’70’s and feeling like I was less because of the color of my skin.

It was just the norm. And then when I did meet some white people who were a bit kinder (ie. not as rude) it was like internally they congratulated themselves on being open-minded enough to show me basic human decency.

I mean, I didn’t complain! I took whatever crumbs I could get, but somehow their condescension and patronizing was about as offensive as the blatant racism.

Well I posted it, without thinking, on Facebook, and then a friend messaged me, telling me how it had deeply affected him, pushed him close to the edge. That life was so horrible, he was constantly on the verge of depression.

And finally I got it!

We have to be very careful with what we post.

So many people are struggling, with depression and other mental illness, that a story like the one I’d callously posted can send them over the edge.

The thing is, with me, such stories are very sad, and horrible tragedies, but they make me feel all the more determined to work against such ideas!

They motivate me!

I know there’s a lot of horror in the world, but what gives me hope is that there’s so much good!

It depends on what we wish to focus on.

Anyway, it was a lesson learned.

We need to be sensitive, give warning, so that people can decide for themselves if they want to witness something on social media.