Why this blog has almost come down multiple times

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article yesterday and if we are facebook friends you saw my post with the link asking people to be kind. It was a story of a photo of a momma posted of her son's medical bill and at first people supported her and were kind and then other people threatened to kill her and her child and called her a drain on society and that her child would be better off dead. It wasn't just one or two internet trolls that said that but more comments then a mom should ever have to read (one is too many).

The article reminded me of one of my biggest fears in blogging... the ugly side. The sucky side of humanity.

The anxiety of it has caused this blog to almost be pulled completely many times.  I have woke up in the middle of the night about this.

I have looked into password only sites where you have to log on to see the content but I also know that I have been able to reach people through this that would have otherwise never had read about our journey because we had not met in real life before they read this blog (one of my best friends and close medical mom and I became friends by her looking up info and stumbling on my blog and now our kids are best friends) so I see the good. I know the people who have contacted me that different things I have posted have helped them with their journey and I feel blessed and honored to be able to have a platform to help others.

The thoughts of taking this all down swirl every time someone on my facebook page shares a picture of a kid with a disability that they don't know, not because I am friends with a bunch of jerks but because I know most of the time those pictures that are floating around were pictures the parents nor the person pictured ever gave permission for the photo to be used. I am part of special needs facebook groups where people have joined and stolen pictures posted and used them to mock children. Far to often those "amen" pictures are done with ill intent by the original poster.

But that news article hit me yesterday. Sharing our journey is vulnerable. It is raw. I watch my statistics, traffic sources, ect very frequently. I monitor my comments. But at the end of the day I often hold my breath a little as a log in. I am letting others into our world. Our hurts and our joy.

So I use this to remind you, be kind. Just because it is on the internet doesn't mean there is not a real person behind it. That woman was called an attention whore for just telling her story. People threatened to harm her and her child because she made a comment about health insurance in this country (yes I hold my breath anytime I make a comment about that). We need to be kind to one another. We need to stand on the side of love. We need to say when something is not right and not make excuses but we need to do it kindly. We need to remember that people are people, like you and me... with a heart beat, with losses and joys and pain and love. We need to stop worrying so much about how we were treated and getting even and worry more about how we treat others (and telling people on facebook to go back to their country, they don't belong here, they are stupid, are a snowflakes, that someone got what was coming, ect is not following that) Remember that if someone is sharing their story that they are giving you the gift of looking into their life and we need to treat that as a treasure instead of an opportunity to attack people. So for now this blog stays up but I wrestle with this.

Some wrestling needs two coffees lol