BADGE

What’s your badge? Policemen and firemen wear them. Girl scouts and boy scouts wear them. What are they? Badges are things we wear or display to say who we are or what we believe. People wear badges of all sorts these days. Some have bumper stickers on their cars. Others wear t-shirts or hats that declare their mind. Still others wear permanent badges on their bodies in the form of tattoos. It seems that many people today, at least in our American society, want everyone else to know what they stand for, what they think and what they believe no matter how absurd. Because, it’s all about them I guess.

I have always frowned upon bumper stickers. Have you ever seen the vehicle with five or more bedecking the bumper, windows and trunk? They may be political messages, funny sayings, quotes or insults to the driver behind them. They may talk about their kids or spouse or have an image of a little guy peeing on….I don’t know…something. I never got that one. What I think when I see a vehicle like that is that I have easily discovered way more about the owner of that vehicle than I ever wanted to know. And I don’t want to be friends. They have put a piece of their mind on their vehicle and I fear they’ll have none left. Ouch!

But now let’s talk about me. Heh, heh, apparently I’m a bit judgmental. But, I don’t allow bumper stickers on my car and I don’t get tattoos. I don’t put signs on my lawn and my t-shirts are pretty generic. I’m by and large fairly understated and therefore have viewed myself as kind of underground in a manner of speaking.

Not so… Interestingly (to me) it turns out that I have a badge as well - and no one is more surprised than I. It’s not something that I wear or drive around in but it’s out there for everyone to see. I wear my badge on Facebook. I really didn’t become conscious of that until recently. To me, I’m Kathy - a spiritual but not religious person with liberal tendencies and strong feelings on injustice and oppression who has worked as an activist for a few different organizations and has made no secret of her radical tendencies, in particular, on Facebook.

I don’t think that’s necessarily wrong. Facebook is a social forum and as such, should be open to discussion and intelligent conversation among those who care to confer about political, social, spiritual and community issues if they so choose, and to those who just want to keep in touch and have fun. Both are acceptable I think. But Facebook is just sound bites. It is a great medium in many ways but a long way from reality in others. And I suppose that what bothers me about the wearing of my particular badge is that I am way more than that badge yet somehow, I fear my ego and I have conspired to make it my identity. It is not. I have certainly managed to alienate myself from old friends recently. Not a big surprise – in their world there are some differences that are insurmountable. I have looked at it as their problem. Still, I do seem to push the envelope all too often. Does that make me one of the bumper sticker people? I don’t know. I have some thinking to do…..