Facebook drama

I love Facebook, truly I do. I've reconnected with so many people from various stages of my life.......high school classmates that I'd forgotten even existed, former students I taught, coworkers, college friends, even former teachers of mine. And therein lies the drama.

I have the absolute highest respect for teachers. They do a mostly thankless job, for little money and even less credit in the eyes of many. I was fortunate to have quite a few incredible teachers in my time, and now that I've walked a few thousand miles in their shoes, I understand even more how wonderful they are! So you can imagine how over-the-moon I was a few weeks ago to have re-discovered my very first band director, thanks to the miracle of Facebook. I was in his classroom more than 25 years ago (gulp!), and I admired and loved him in the sweet way of a 6th grade girl. When we moved during the fall of my 7th grade year, I was devastated and just knew I wouldn't like any new band director I might get. I wanted to stay with Mr. M, it was as simple as that. So after all these years, to find him again on FB........amazing! And he even says he remembers me! :)

Well guess what? Mr. M is raving right-wing lunatic. {sigh} And I do mean raving, ranting, unhinged, conspiracy-theory lunatic. You know, "Obama is the antichrist and is out to get us all" kind of thing, and he's ruined our country in a mere 8 months. Oh, and don't forget that public schools are ALL a freakin' disaster (or "dead", his words) and no one who cares about their child or this country would ever set foot in one. Makes me wonder why he still teaches in one. Things that make you go hmmmm.........

I've UNfriended people on FB for less. Much less. Much MUCH less. I'm pretty much the polar opposite of where he stands in terms of my politics, and I do tend to post politically-oriented links and stuff on my FB page. I happen to proudly send my children to a wonderful public school (shout out to my AIMS peeps!), and am VERY proud to have voted for our President and to support his policies. And because FB is a world of my own design, I have been perfectly content to remove a "friend" or two when I've gotten nauseated one too many times at reading their drivel.

So if this were anyone else posting the "schools are evil and Obama is a disaster" crap, he'd have been long gone. I mean come on, what's one friend when you've got 447, LOL? But the whole teacher-respect thing is so ingrained in me that I can't even call the man by his first name, much less find the nerve to speak up and defend my position when it differs from his, as it does about 99.592760274% of the time. I'm an adult now, damn it, not a 6th grader. Hell, I'm older now than he was when I was in his band. But I can't make myself stand up to him and argue like I really want to, so I end up having to read his crap while biting my tongue until it bleeds. And I just "found" him again, can't stand the thought of the whole UNfriend thing.

So, blogworld friends......what's the answer? I know, I know, there is no good answer. Guess I'm gonna have to put up with it, or grow a backbone and decide to say something back to him one of these fine days when the preposterous rantings push me over the edge. I guess it's that old cliche: You can't go home again, or you can't find a teacher you idolized after 27 years and expect that he hasn't changed, or that you haven't. {sigh X 10000000000....}