March 2023

For almost a decade I have partaken in Twitter; at one-time a generally innocent way of share bits and bytes of what was happening in the moment.
   At times, daily (or even more often), I would Tweet and re-Tweet my photography, poetry, and sample snippets of my opinions, essays and fortune cookie philosophies from my Mythos & Marginalia website.
   I engaged and interacted with human beings across this wonderful planet and enjoyed the contact and connection for the longest time.
   I’ve not been as regular these past couple of months.
   I am no longer sure about Twitter. I don’t like the direction it is going or, more so, where it was taking me.
   When I originally got involved in 2013 with the somewhat limited social forum (at that time a 140-character maximum), I would share positive thoughts on the context of the human condition and involve myself with day-to-day inspiration by passing something along.
   As my Twitter handle suggested, I intended to @sayit4word.
   At that time I was thinking positively, and for the most part I was.
   But, I guess, it was last year during the Ontario provincial election when I noticed I was not behaving properly, or rationally, and certainly not respectfully.
   I now know, or realized then, the forum itself was getting ignorant and obnoxious (even cruel). I noticed it mostly last February when the protesters involved with Freedom Convoy Rally began to take over our nation’s capital.
   Twitter got really nasty.
   And yes, I got nasty too.
   Throughout 2022, much of my anger was directed towards the fully-fledged idiot who managed to get himself elected as Premier of this province in 2018 and was being propelled towards re-election by a party and its anything-but-progressive pundits.
   I can see now and see how angry it made me. And, yes, I contributed to the mess Twitter is in.
   I’m no longer sure about Twitter. I haven’t tweeted for a couple of months. I don’t even check the forum regularly, certainly not as frequently as I used to; many weeks, not at all.
   I was even tempted, last month, to weigh in on the disturbing tale of Toronto’s mayor (or mascot) resigning after admitting an affair with a woman in his office half his age. I was thinking of all kinds of Twitter-appropriate comments, but after reflection, I managed to keep them to myself. I guess I was realizing that I would only be adding to the chaos and the chorus of idiots who were simply shouting into the ether without considering facts and feelings.
   I realized my Tweets and comments would be going against all I had imagined when I originally logged onto the social media platform.
   There was that lesson, a quote by Thumper from the movie Bambi, we learned as kids: “If you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all.”
   So I have been silent for a while, but won’t be for much longer.
   April is poetry month, a period of the year I always cherish; so next month I think will step back into Twitter. I will start Tweeting again, but become more conscious of my intentions and try to pass on the more positive outlook I have been trying to nourish.
   I intend on saying it forward.

© 2023 j.g. lewis