You probably have read on my Facebook page my most recent boast.
Here I'll boast about it again some more: I changed my broken wing mirror for a lovely brand new one! I took off the old one, and to do that I actually had to use some sort of contraption from my husband's tool box. It undoes bolts. You may know what it is called, I don't, but to get the correct size I had to fit four different parts together and I figured it out on my own! So I removed the bolts, pulled off the old wing mirror, got the new one, which yes I had purchased the correct side, and fitted it on, using the same gadget to tighten the bolts (ratchet is it?) and shoved the cover panel back on (sort of). All this whilst supervising the play of two very energetic children of 2 and 3 years (I just found them on the street and felt sorry for them).
I was so encouraged by this accomplishment that I actually thought I could also put some more Freon in my car's AC unit. Sadly when I opened the bonnet I could not find where to put it. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place. Anyway, I decided to leave that to someone else and go inside and boast on Facebook about my first achievement and skip over my complete failure.
So why the need to boast? Couldn't I have been internally satisfied with my victory, woman over machine, and just drive around with the happy knowledge that I am not totally defunct in this area.
No this is not good enough! I have to, in one easy swoop, tell 234 friends about it. The world must know what a champion I am!
And so is the curse of Facebook, giving you far too much opportunity to brag, and so, it would seem, is Blogging.
I think that perhaps this is all that this modern media is good for, showing off. Showing off how funny you are, showing off how wise you are, showing off how deep you are, how brave you are, how great your kids are, how wonderfully interesting and eloquent you are (I read a post today that was interesting and in the middle of it used the word "coterminous" - I mean come on, who uses a word like that in the normal course of things - sorry to the author if you are reading this but you know I will happily say it to your face with a nice smile and an expectation that you will laugh too). And not just showing off, it gives loads of people the opportunity to affirm you in your showing off through the comments section, and themselves buffed up by the fact that you might choose to respond to their comment and praise them for their insight. Maybe I'm just judging everyone else by the colour of my own heart, but isn't what it is all about, deep down? Comment on me! Praise me! Hear my voice! And agree with me! Like me!
I've only written a few blogs and this is what I sense underneath my own witterings on. I know I'm probably about the millionth person to make such a comment on social media. I do not claim to be original. I guess I'm having one of those "isn't this all madness" days.
