"Like" Me?

Do you find yourself “liking” things and people you really don’t know or even “like” for that matter?

I do.

I click on “like” sometimes (but not always, never always) just to help people feel better about their personal choices, photos or opinions.  And hey, I know people are doing it to me, too, especially when one of my Mrs. Sedd@60 blog posts is particularly uninteresting -- which by the way, I know they are from time to time (at least, I hope it’s just from time to time).  Frankly, I appreciate your honesty by declining to “like” my post even though it took 30-60 minutes out of my day to memorialize some cockamamie idea or insight in the hope that someone, anyone out there might find it has some small relevance to their life….but I digress.

This is tricky stuff because it’s so….psychological, isn’t it? Facebook, for example, where all of this liking takes place, is such a public forum that you don’t really want to contradict someone’s opinion in a “loud” way, because opinions are just one of the mirrors we put out there so others can see us and, we hope, themselves.  But then again, you may not really know the people whose opinions, etc., you’ve liked in the past well enough to send an alternative opinion or critique of their current comments in a personal email because it’s…too personal, I think.

Mark Zuckerberg and company really were genius when they came up with “like” because it is everyone’s zeitgeist. That’s what we all really want (except for sociopaths, who don’t care).  Isn’t it?  To be liked?  We all want to believe that “You’ve Got a Friend (in Me),” whether it’s Carole King or Randy Newman singing reassuringly to us.

To quote the one and only Randy Newman:

“Some other folks might be
A little bit smarter than I am
Bigger and stronger, too
Maybe.
But none of them will every love you, the way I do…
It’s me and you…
You’ve got a friend in me."

I know you "like" me and I "like" you, even/except when we don’t.   I’m ok with that and I hope you are too...because you have a "friend" in me.  Gooey, but true. Sort of.
 

Happy Thursday.