Friends are friends no matter in what medium I meet them

I treat everyone I meet online in the same way I would if I met them face to face.

Some people like to take on a different persona online, there are different reasons for that… But with me, what you see is what you get!

Every single person in this comments thread I met online rather than face to face. Most of us have subsequently met up and enjoyed time together

As you can see we are looking forward to meeting again soon

*hugs*

I hope I will see you too, later this year?

I am glad you like the photo. I was struggling to keep my camera straight and make sure the tree trunk behind me was to one side of me.

I’m caught between whether online behavior tells us more about someone’s real character, what they’re really thinking or whether they’re just wearing swine masks like it’s Halloween and really a decent person in real life, and I think it depends on the person – because I think both of those things occur online.

And everyone has bad days, I guess, we’re only getting a snapshot of someone’s life. I really don’t understand the need for alter egos and other personas, though, but then I’m the sort of person that just kind of is who I am, accepts there are facets to my personality, both positive and negative, and allows the same for other people (to a degree of severity).

And then of course there’s also our perception of what someone writes versus their intention, which may be erroneous, and something that context, or even tone, are the additional information that would be required for full meaning, which we don’t often have provided to us online.

Regardless, for some reason, this quote and subject brought to mind Christ’s words of: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matthew 7:6)

Sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s online or real-life swine, who isn’t, and who can be both, these days lol.

I told my daughter recently that sometimes even close friends can accidentally drop a pearl now and then without meaning to, because it’s not as if humans are perfect when compared to swine.

But there’s a difference between a friend accidentally dropping a precious pearl infrequently VS. swine repeatedly trampling on it or throwing it back in your face, all covered in mud so that it’s unrecognizable – and the way we learn the difference is by giving one small precious pearl at a time and see what they do with it, over time.

I can honestly say that you have never once thrown a precious pearl back in my face or trampled on it

Genuineness, integrity, kindness, fairness, and having the best of intentions are my top priorities in friendships, these days, and you have those qualities in spades, my friend, as the Bridge phrase goes. Huggings