David Lee

24 Hours a Day

Meditation for the Day

All is fundamentally well. That does not mean that all is well on the surface of things. But it does mean that God’s in His heaven and that He has a purpose for the world, which will eventually work out when enough human beings are willing to follow His way. “Wearing the world as a loose garment” means not being upset by the surface wrongness of things, but feeling deeply secure in the fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God may be with me in my journey through the world. I pray that I may know that God is planning that journey.

Language of Letting Go

Considering Commitment

Pay attention to your commitments.

While many of us fear committing, it’s good to weigh the cost of any commitment we are considering. We need to feel consistently positive that it’s an appropriate commitment for us.

Many of us have a history of jumping — leaping headfirst — into commitments without weighing the cost and the possible consequences of that particular commitment. When we get in, we find that we do not really want to commit and feel trapped.

Some of us may become afraid of losing out on a particular opportunity if we don’t commit. It is true that we will lose out on certain opportunities if we are unwilling to commit. We still need to weigh the commitment. We still need to become clear about whether that commitment seems right for us. If it isn’t, we need to be direct and honest with others and ourselves.

Be patient. Do some soul searching. Wait for a clear answer. We need to make our commitments not in urgency or panic but in quiet confidence that what we are committing to is right for us.

If something within says no, find the courage to trust that voice.

This is not our last chance. It is not the only opportunity we’ll ever have. Don’t panic. We don’t have to commit to what isn’t right for us, even if we try to tell ourselves it should be right for us and we should commit.

Often, we can trust our intuitive sense more than we can trust our intellect about commitments.

In the excitement of making a commitment and beginning, we may overlook the realities of the middle. That is what we need to consider.

We don’t have to commit out of urgency, impulsivity, or fear. We are entitled to ask, Will this be good for me? We are entitled to ask if this commitment feels right.

Today, God, guide me in making my commitments. Help me say yes to what is in my highest good, and no to what isn’t. I will give serious consideration before I commit myself to any activity or person. I will take the time to consider if the commitment is really what I want.

Lord give us a tender heart.

Let us do loving things that surprise even ourselves.

Let us top daily to talk to people who need a good word,

Mend what is broken, and touch what needs to be loved.

Make us more aware of the tiny surprises that are scattered like secrets all around us.

Let us notice such things we have forgotten, and those persons of shome we have grown weary.

May we see them in a new way, so that we have a new word for them.

As we busily set out to do the large tasks, may we find more time for small celebrations.

O Christ, give us the grace to live out each day as though it were a gift. Oh Spirit, surprise us often.

Then let us show our great surprise.

Herbert K. Brokering

Another full week, my second while on a hiatus from social media, is done and although I’ve read I’m not supposed to pay a lot of attention to numbers, I’m a former math teacher, so it’s what I do.

Views

My blog had 247 views for its second week, down from 270 the first week (a drop of 8.5%).
Average daily views for the second week was 35.3, down from 38.6 for the first week.

I think this is due to the fact that the first week away from Facebook had more people clicking on my link because my post was showing up in their news feed. Now that I’ve been off for two weeks, I don’t think that original post is showing up for others.

The best day for views was on Sunday of this past week, with 66 views. This was the best day of views on this sabbatical, topping the previous week’s high mark of 57 on Thursday.

Visitors

My blog had 55 visitors for the second week, up from 38 the first week (an increase of 44.7%)

Average daily viewers for the second week was 7.9, up from the 5.4 from the first week.

I was pleased that the number of viewers went up for the week, despite the fact the total number of views took a dip. I have connected with several other WordPress writers and I believe their viewership has helped in this area. I’ve also enjoyed reading their blogs as well.

The best day for viewer numbers was on Wednesday of this past week, with 13 different viewers. Sunday was a close second, with 12 different viewers. During the first week, Wednesday also had the most different viewers, with a high of 14 for the week

Summary

While the total number of views for the week dropped 8.5%, the number of viewers increased 44.7%. I feel this means that the viewers that I do have are more likely to return to my blog. The first week had a lot more views due to the fact the blog had a “fresh” post on FB. Now that my FB page has been idle for a couple of weeks, it’s probably no longer showing up in other user’s feeds, so one might expect the number of views to drop. I’m especially excited about the fact that the number of viewers has increased during this same time period.

**Special Note

March of this this year as seen more views, 555 at the time of this writing, than any other month of its inception in October of 2009. The previous monthly high for views was 404 in October of 2015. March is a bit more than halfway over, so the new record will only increase during the next week and a half.

David Lee

Lots in the news the past several days about the attack in a New Zealand mosque where fifty people were senselessly gunned down. It appears that terrorist, who was one of several involved in the attack, has been apprehended. He used Facebook’s “FB Live” feature to broadcast the gruesome attack. The entire savage attack was live for its entirety and not removed until twelve minutes later, after viewers had reported it to Facebook. So a seventeen minute attack, plus twelve minutes before it was removed means that it was viewed for nearly a half an hour.

The New York Times reports:

According to the social network, the graphic, high-definition video of the attack was uploaded by users 1.5 million times in the first 24 hours. Of those 1.5 million copies of the video, Facebook’s automatic detection systems automatically blocked 1.2 million. That left roughly 300,000 copies ricocheting around the platform to be viewed, liked, shared and commented on by Facebook’s more than two billion users.

So what level of responsibility do social media outlets have in such matters as these? One of the attractive features of most platforms is that they allow users to share simultaneously their thoughts, pictures, videos, and in this case, lives feeds. It would seem nearly impossible to me for them to have complete control at all times over what people choose to share. And while I think most people share in a kind-hearted type of way, there are those who would choose to use it for displaying violent behaviors. How would social media outlets be able to know instantaneously that someone was posting something so horrid? They received word of this event a full twelve minutes after the event had ended. And by then many, had shared and reshared the video.

It seems that Facebook did the right thing once they found the video existed online. And while it could be said that the gunman used their live feature to make himself known, the platform itself can’t be faulted.

Perhaps the evolution of technology and social media is moving at such a pace that it’s become nearly impossible to monitor it all. And people, even someone as abhorrent as the New Zealand gunman, are going to use it to promote their own cause, even when it involves mass murder.

I don’t fault the social media outlets for the attack. Perhaps we need to look more closely at all the people who saw the live feed of the attack and did not report it…and even moreso, those who chose to share it. Perhaps education of users needs to take place so events such as this one don’t receive so much publicity when they do occur.

Just my thoughts on the matter….Your comments are welcome and appreciated.

David Lee

Tools of the Trade…