Shame on me

I'm ashamed of myself for thinking (much less writing) what I'm about to, but I'm doing it anyway. Shame on me.

It's judgmental and bitchy, but I simply cannot restrain myself for some reason tonight. Double shame on me.

I follow a decent amount of blogs. There are some really talented writers out there - way, way more talented than I am. And after reading about their lives for weeks, months, even years, I feel like I know them. I realize I don't - not really - but I care about what happens to them. Which, in a way, makes what I'm about to say even worse.

I just read most of a blog entry from someone that I have never met personally nor carried on a personal conversation. She wrote, reaching out to the blog world (and beyond, I'm sure) to share her troubles. And they were real and familiar. A death in the family, a fight with another family member, financial troubles, stress and worry about being a good parent and provider. My heart goes out to her.I've been there. It's no fun. Any one of those would be difficult to deal with, but all at once? Yikes!

But as I scrolled down her blog entry, there were all these pictures posted of her happy and smiling- posing happily for the camera. No sad eyes, no tear stains, no furrowed brow...just a lady who looks like her life is hunky dory. And I found myself thinking - WTH? Why are these pictures all over your blog entry when your words so convincingly contradict them? Which is it? If you're being paid to wear the outfit you're in, why not put the pictures in a different post? Why invalidate all that work and emotion because you're wearing a cute pair of boots and you're having a good hair day? And also? SPELL-CHECK. I'm pretty sure your computer has it in some form or another. Even Blogger has a spell-check built in.

Shame on me. That's an awful thing to think, much less admit - and then, god forbid, blog about. But I'm sick of insincerity, double standards, pity parties, and other such nonsense. Is it for the attention? Did I miss a memo?

I feel like I'm having a Carrie Bradshaw moment here - In this era of social network over sharing, when does over sharing result in under caring?

And, like I said, shame on me.