Challenge

The world of Facebook has developed a culture of sharing, liking and socializing. There is also the phenom of pop-up challenges such as ice baths for ALS awareness and scriptural posts for a designated number of days. The intent of most challenges is certainly laudable, however, there is something unsettling about calling out friends and family in a public venue. Please understand, I harbor no ill will toward anyone participating in such challenges. Many have been blessed by them. My uneasiness is born of a need for filtering challenge requirements.

A recent challenge requires participants to post pictures of themselves with their smiling spouses for seven consecutive days. The intent is to celebrate love and promote marriage. Excellent premise. Questionable process. Certainly, it is entertaining to gawk at wedding day photos of couples filled with promise and blissful expectations. Pictures of fun-filled vacations and church directory moments seal the deal for marital harmony. But, do seven photos times the number of your married FB friends really meet the intended goal? My guess is there are a lot of stories stitched between each polished photo that truly tell the story of what it takes to be married. I also feel a sense of empathy for my FB friends who are single or have recently lost spouses due to divorce or death. Splashing twosome photos on their pages seems tantamount to sharing a random couples powerpoint at a singles event.

A photo that spoke volumes to me was recently posted (the old-fashioned way) in my hometown newspaper on the obituary page. It was of a couple who I had the honor of knowing as a child and during my early married years. They had been married for almost 63 years. (Their story has since been picked up by the media.) By the grace of God, the husband and wife passed away peacefully within the same hour. Two of their five children were at their bedsides. The circumstances of their deaths are not pleasant. The wife had suffered from Alzheimer's disease and was confined to a nursing home. The husband had only recently gone to an assisted living facility due to his own health struggles and I suspect, somewhat of a broken heart. On a warm summer's day, he went to visit his wife in the nursing home and sustained a fall that put him in the same room as his wife.  Together once again, God called them home as a couple, the ultimate celebration of love, marriage and commitment, through good times and bad.  If they were alive and well today, I am sure they could tell many tales about the struggles of marriage, child-rearing and making a living during the volatility of economic swings. Maybe our ancestors were on to something when the only photos shared with the masses were a baby picture, a family picture and an obituary picture selected by others.

That being said, please don't de-friend me on FB. I do enjoy escape time into the virtual worlds of others. And I promise never to challenge anyone with a task.

Unless it involves Cheetos.

(Purchased for blogging purposes only.)