Words from the Wiser

There has got to be something seriously wrong with my house. The amount of clutter that it has accumulated in a span of a week belies the fact that only one person lives there. The slob who has called this space home sure has such a busy schedule. Wonder where he is so I could give him a piece of my mind.

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Thought I called it quits with my FB account but out of boredom, I still check it out every now and then. Plurk I can live without, definitely since there's really not much action going on there so I've been stuck with all these responses and updates which I don't bother to open anymore.

This blog however is what keeps me online most of the time. I find it a bit fun reading back on what I have written in the past and try to see how far I've come since then. (Obviously, not a long ways) I try to put in a post each day but I'm still having difficulty posting everything that I write. Partly because some of them make absolutely no sense (yes, even more nonsensical than those posted here) and some I'd rather not have people find out.

When I was young after a big fight between the folks at home, my dad and I were bathing the dogs when he gave me an important piece of advice: 'Never ever let anyone know everything about you'. I was around 12 at that time yet I understood what he meant. There are things that you should keep to yourself, and if you should let things be known, not to any one single person. MacGyver also had this in mind, just a bit differently phrased: 'Never trust anybody'. Well, he seemed to have done alright most times. And of course, we all know the Encyclopedia salesperson's phrase 'Information/Knowledge is Power' as well as my personal favorite from Saturday morning cartoons, 'And knowing is half the battle'.

Is it the thought of being totally exposed that gives us reason to keep things to ourselves? In Catholic school, which was sort of big on the whole sacrament of confession, I doubt if anyone ever told the priest ALL their sins. I know I didn't, in fact, my 'sins' were limited to a pre-selected list of mine which I deemed socially and spiritually acceptable to an extent and for which the penance would usually fall in the category of 5 Hail Marys, 5 Our Fathers and a smattering of Glory Be's. Funny priests get to appraise the exact amount of penance for every corresponding sin. Wonder if they carry a 'sin table matrix' as a guide in the confessional booth.

My point? There are just so many ways for you to make the mistake of exposing yourself to anybody and everybody on FB and every other social networking site. Though not intending to, someone else might 'tag' you or mention something about you that isn't really what you want other people to know. A few weeks ago I had to 'untag' some compromising pictures of myself from other people's albums out of fear of misconceptions that may arise from it. Turns out I hadn't done it soon enough and some of the concerns that I had were blown out of proportion. Well, that's over, thankfully.

So as a mid year resolution, I turn back to the words of the wise (John, Menemis, G.I. Joe and the Britannica salesperson) and try to keep bits and pieces of my personal life to myself. Not that I don't trust people, I just want to limit the amount of embarrassment that I am usually prone to. Now how does Our Father go again?