WE CAN DO BETTER

Sometimes, you need to take a break from social media to keep your sanity. You’ll be shocked how despicable fellow humans can be when they have access to a smartphone and the internet.

I know you are trying to make sense of the image above so I’ll give context to it.

The image is a screenshot of some kind of SOS sent by a Twitter user and the response by one of the tweeps.

I’ll break it down for you…

Two days ago, there was an attack on a train conveying folks from point A to point B, in Nigeria 🇳🇬 In that attack, lives were lost, many sustained various degrees of injuries, and some were kidnapped.

The lady, Chinelo, in the captured tweet above was one of the casualties of the attack. At the time she tweeted, she had been shot hence, her tweet

I’m in the train. I have been shot please pray for me

It was to her tweet that the other tweep, Abolore, responded

Are you dead now?

Well, it turned out that Chinelo died eventually.

I hope you catch my drift now. And you see why I began the way I did?

Did Abolore kill her? No. Could he have done better? A whole lot.

By the way, his wasn’t the only terrible response. It was just the most brutal.

But let’s play the devil’s advocate for a moment and advance reasons for why he responded the way he did…

• Perhaps the lady was trolling, as many internet users do.
• Maybe she was just raising a false alarm
• Could be a clout chaser
• Probably has an ulterior/ignoble motive for doing so

We can go on…

Truth is, no matter how hard we try to see from the commentator’s perspective, nothing will validate the weight of his comment.

He is foolish and shame-worthy who answers a matter before he hears the fact. The scripture said that – Proverbs 18: 13.

Why should you have to respond if you cannot prove the genuineness in a fellow’s utterance? What happens to examining the situation before rushing to a hurtful conclusion? But much more, why must your response be filled with bile?

When self-restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.

Mahatma Gandhi

It’s one thing to make a wrong judgement call and another to be insensitive. It however takes an individual with a poor sense of empathy or low degree of emotional intelligence to put out such a response.

Maybe I’m just weird, but I have deleted more drafts than I have posted. I have several perfected articles that will never be read by anyone but me. I have made to respond to numerous messages/tweets/posts but deleted my response at the last minute.

I ask myself,

• Is it worth putting out?
• Do I have to comment, respond or publish?
• What do I seek to achieve with it?
• Is it going to be of help, value, edification, or otherwise?
• Are my emotions, sentiment, and prejudice getting in the way of what I write?…

By the way, Abolore later deleted his tweet and locked his account. But what’s done is done. Maybe he’ll be regretting his reaction right now. Just maybe.

Thank God for social media! What a blessing it is: Giving voice to all, amplifying the voice, connecting people, providing a wealth of knowledge, exposure and awareness…

But for all its goodness, it has also exposed the beast in many – unfettered, uncouth, impulsive, bestial, and ill-mannered. ‘Wokeness’ is the stock-in-trade. Many are all about clout-chasing and social media engagements and validation.

Our virtual conversations and conducts are reflections of who we truly are. Meanwhile, our actions have consequences, whether offline or online.

The biblical injunction to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath still holds.

I pray for fortitude and comfort for the family of Chinelo and everyone who lost their loved ones in the attack.

Chinelo

May we have more people who are circumspect, kind, and humane.