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I’ve been listening to past Bill Moyers interviews and also getting back into the groove of my walking. A neighbor loves to take urban hikes and I wish I had the time allotment to do more of them. This morning I received a pop up message from a friend and neighbor on Facebook, the message was hard core raunchy and I was taken aback and then realized it was not her at all. Someone had stolen her identity on Facebook – something that a friend in New York was just complaining about and why he had gotten himself off of FB.

I logged onto my Twitter accounts yesterday and discovered about 2400 tweets that all seemed to me to be people shouting into the airspace sort of like what the writers of the Bible might have envisioned when they were describing Babel. Blah blah blah blah blah. I thought about how effective any of that is for business or for personal identity and it gave me pause.

Yet today Susan B Komen backed off of its recent announcement to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, which was possibly the worst PR disaster since the BP Oil Spill. They apologized on Twitter. They sent out a Press Release saying my bad – meanwhile Planned Parenthood raised nearly as much money in a two days from supporters who came to their aid and so really, is Komen necessary – no. They proved they are not instrumental to Planned Parenthood.

And once again social media, the Internet proved that it is useful for amplifying the voice of the people.

When a message goes viral it takes on a life of its own and no one, not the author, the spin doctor, the retreater, the crowd has any control over the message and its interpretation – see MacDonald’s and their Twitter disaster recently.

I sat in the park with an expectant mother yesterday as we watched our kids play on the jungle gym, she told me all she has on her mind is cocooning and nesting. I told her I am incubating and so I totally know where she is right now.

In incubation periods, immersing into the noise is good, but escaping is equally powerful. Trying to find your voice by clamoring to be heard above the din of a billion voices is exhausting. Best to rest till you’re not weary, speak when you have something to say, and nurture the light within you to shine.

About that post that was circulating about life isn’t fair, well it should be. I was walking through the park this morning and listening to Bill Moyers interviewing Anna Deavere Smith about her play she does called Let Me Down Easy where she channels 20 characters from around America and this one about a Charity Hospital doctor during the Federal Flood just hit me like an arrow through the heart.

I came across a person I just met who has been acting rather cold and stiff after this initial warm fuzzy and I thought to myself, self I thought, did I do something to her to deserve this cold shoulder. I shuffled through the card deck of all the culpability that I might have in this life or another, and came up with a few items that might be dusted off but nothing specific.

Then I received the email that helped me sort it out – the new edition of the Louise Log is out and thankfully it was right on topic and helped me get perspective – I too see Lackawanna sometimes, even when it’s a mirage.