July 18, 2007
Time and time again I
have been encouraged
to get a page on
Myspace. After all everyone is
doing it. Some of my best
friends have their own pages.
Even presidential candidate
Sen. Barack Obama is hooked
into Myspace.
Young people and those who
act young, need to understand
what they are doing when they
decide to put their business on
the internet.
First realize that those
pictures are there for life when
you put them up into cyberspace—
there for the entire
world to see. People download
and print photos, passing them
around. Those photos take on
a life of their own.
Those pictures can come
back to haunt you. My niece,
Alayna, just doesn’t get it! I
have erased stuff on her page
because I felt it was inappropriate.
Either she feels it is a
way of expressing herself or
she just wants to mess with my
head. Either way, she has
gotten on my last nerve and I
am about to pull her email
account, only I have been told
that then we won’t be able to
access the page from the
account and erase or alter all of
that crap—it will just linger
out there.
Now if someone knows
otherwise, I am all ears and
fingers—ready to remove that
stuff because on her page, she
has friends making obscene
gestures or talking about
“Bitch” this or that. Some of
the young ladies are halfnaked
or they are posing with
their butts or breasts out,
talking about how they are
“bad” or not the one to be
“F***ed” with.
She was not brought up that
way and if she still lived at
home, I would probably have
been arrested for trying to
straighten her out and get her
back on the right track.
But Alayna and her friends are
not alone. More and more
people are getting on the
internet and putting ALL of
their business out there for the
world to absorb.
And the world is absorbing
it. Future employers are
accessing those websites and
finding out information about
you. If you are applying for
admittance into a sorority,
some members are checking
the internet—to see what is
out there about you. It’s bad
enough when someone gets
into the organization and turns
into a freak, but if there is a
way to identify a freak before
hand, believe me when I tell
you that more and more are
doing their homework on the
internet to identify the freaks.
Guys are also checking out
prospective dates because they
don’t want to have someone
coming up to them at their
bachelor parties showing
pictures of their bride-to-be
doing something promiscuous
or vulgar.
There are some people who
have no desire to do anything
with their lives and so they can
put any and everything on the
internet—so they think. If
they live long enough,
however, they will have some
regrets. Or worse, if your
children run across pictures or
information about your
exploits, then you have that to
contend with. It’s hard enough
to garner respect from youth
today without them seeing you
acting a fool on the internet.
One young lady had a vulgar
name and I asked her where it
came from. This 18-year-old
said that a woman at her job
suggested it. I asked, “How
old was that woman?”
“She looks like she is about in
her 30s,” she responded.
I told her that the woman was
wrong for suggesting the
name because it was doing
nothing but putting out a
negative image of the young
lady. I told her the woman
wouldn’t have told her
own daughter to do that and
she shouldn’t have advised her
in that manner. Sadly some
will say that there are mothers
out there who will give their
daughters inappropriate names
or encourage inappropriate
behavior.
I know I should have kept
my mouth shut, but what good
am I if I don’t offer some
advice to a young sister?
Hopefully somebody is out
there saying the same to
Alayna.
We need to let young sisters
know about being careful
about how they package themselves
for the world to see—
because you can’t do and say
any and everything and think
it will be acceptable. And,
equally important with this
internet, your business is there
for everyone, including
pedophiles, to see and use.
Instead, this older woman
who should know better is
handing out suggestions that
are detrimental to the young
sister’s future. Older women
should have learned from their
life experiences so that they
wouldn’t pass on flawed information
and advice.
The internet can be a good
thing, but, it can also be your
worse enemy. The last thing
you want to do is see yourself
in an embarrassing act and
while you may not view the
act as embarrassing when you
are in your teens or 20s,
hopefully if you live long
enough, you will even ask
yourself, “what was I thinking,”
or “why didn’t someone
stop me?” The answer could
be that you were hard-headed
or stubborn. Whatever the
case, you need to understand
that some things are inappropriate,
whether you put them
on the internet or not.
Protect your image and be
very careful about how you let
folks classify you. You owe it
to yourself, your future and
your descendants.
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