It is away from reality when I need to be there, and it is a sanctuary where I control everything that happens around me. I began exploring internet radio about five years ago as an alternative to the more popular social networking sites where everyone or anyone can weigh-in with their own opinions or as often is the case, their own personal brand of lunacy. I tinkered with a site called "Classmates.com" not knowing what I expected to find there and it was a bust because all it was was a barely populated haven for old schoolmates that had very little to share and even less in common with the people I knew them to be fifty years ago. We all grew up and moved on and took very different paths through life and I guess there was a reason for that; perhaps to escape from something when we began to understand all the reasons we should. Then at the urging of a friend I looked into something called "My Space" and soon discovered it was more like a virtual playground for kids from 5 years old to about 25 years old, mostly females making duck-faces and sharing other photos that were poorly posed and not well thought out. And then I caved into my curiosity to learn what "Facebook" was all about and why so many seemingly intelligent people from the entertainment and professional ranks were saying that it is the new telephone but with pictures and the easiest method of communication since the invention of the telegraph.
It was only because I recognized so many people with pages that I decided to give it a whirl and start a page of my own; and then another one...and then another one. As my main page grew to 5000 or so-called friends of which I actually knew less than 20 I saw it as just a convenient way to spy on society and watch the world outside of my own tick along at a pace and in a way that I knew I wanted no part of. Still, I became as active as I was willing to be by doing very little more than just promoting myself and a few of my own ideas, sort of like what everyone else was doing but holding more back than most are willing to. After about five years I think I am way ahead of that eight-ball because I have managed to weed out and unfriend about a thousand people that I knew I would never have anything in common with and probably that many more weeded me out and away from knowing any more about them than they already taught me. Eventually I will need to ignore a few thousand more and probably more than that but I am in no hurry. Instead I will be content with being unfriended by a few more each day and allow us both to escape the other at a slower but steady pace.
I don't pay as much attention to Facebook as I used to because of all of the topics that continued to be hammered that I care little or nothing about and in time I will also walk away from my internet radio social networking site called "Heartlites" because that's just what I do; I walk away from people and places very easily when I feel I have gotten all there is to get from either. I still enjoy doing live internet radio shows but I stopped caring if anyone likes what I do or if anyone even hears it! For now I am tinkering with the idea of renewing my yearly contract with the Live 365 network that carries my programs but unless I can come up with a new direction for it I may walk away from it before the end of the year. The truth is, I don't need to do it any longer if having a place to escape from something is all it is. But in the meantime I will go there sometimes at night to stir up a few memories and see where my mind can escape to for a few hours. But what is undeniable is that I am away from mainstream lunacy. There won't be anyone there to remind me that black lives matter and no one to point out why they don't. I won't have to endure anyone's take on who should be president and I won't have to worry about anyone putting anything else in my face that I don't care about and no one has any chance of leaving unwanted messes behind for me to clean up by having to delete them.
Did I get your attention with that last sentence? It was written to do that; part of that edge I have and continue to nurture as I fondle with these keys to do what everyone else on Facebook hopes they can keep doing day after day, after day. The difference between me and most is only in the content and volume of what I am willing to share; that and where the best stuff can be found. Actually the best stuff is here; I dole it out in abbreviated doses and then steer readers to Amazon where hopefully I can sell them a few books and supplement my meager income. But this too is my escape and very few people from Facebook will ever read it because I believe my own research has proven that hard-core and dedicated Facebookers rarely read much beyond what is written beneath a photograph. This piece isn't likely to sell any more books, but like various other social networking sites there is always that one in a million chance that a serious reader will have read the entire text here and maybe be curious about something else I have to say!
As for where else I might escape if I choose to end my radio show, I needn't seek new ways or new places, I have everything I need to avoid being in any company I am not comfortable with. I call it my sanctuary from chaos, others refer to it as my home. But what few know about it is that there is no place on earth (at least not yet) that has as much as I need to be content and stay happy. I can lock out what I don't want in, block any views from outside by pulling a couple of draw-strings and turn everything off when I want to with just a few switches and buttons. Happiness for me has become all about escaping from one doldrum after another when things or people become doldrums. Not that I have much of that around me anymore, because remember, I have reached the age where a younger and faster world thinks we should be ignored. I am just making things easy for them.
