Facebook had me completely annoyed by 6:15 this morning.
I think that’s a new record for me.
I woke up at 5:30, made coffee at 6, turned on the computer at 6:10 and was almost immediately annoyed. A battle was raging, like usual, and everyone was voicing their opinions. I made the comment that maybe no one really CARED about our opinions, which was met with even more heated opinions. I deleted the comment in a huff and got the kids ready for school.
An hour later, we were carpooling with the neighbor boys and the kids had turned my attitude completely around. They were so funny and full of life that it caused me to pat my daughter’s leg and say, “Thank you. This is what I needed.”
It made me think of the parable about the two wolves, so I told it to the kids as we drove to school. I had to paraphrase it this morning, but here’s what I found online:

A grandfather is talking with his grandson and he says there are two wolves inside of us which are always at war with each other.
One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear.
The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?”
The grandfather quietly replies, “The one you feed.”

My daughters groaned and rolled their eyes.
“Let me guess. An old, NATIVE AMERICAN PROVERB,” was Big Sister’s annoyed response.
(I’d always heard Cherokee but, according to this link, that’s not the case. Do me a favor though and don’t tell Emma. Please?)
The youngest boy in the car chimed in with, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you told us that story last week.”

This started a debate among the kids, which turned into an all-out battle between my daughters. It didn’t end until Big Sister told Little Sister, “I HATE YOU,” and wouldn’t take it back until I threatened to take away her phone for the rest of the week.

“What is WRONG with you,” I asked Emma, as she grabbed her backpack from the car.

Her eyes were blazing with that crazy teenager-fire when she laughed and said, “Sorry Mom, I guess I’m just FEEDING THE WRONG WOLF!”

Then she slammed the car door and walked away.

I get it.

Sometimes it feels good to feed the wrong wolf. It’s like scratching that poison ivy, when you know it’s just going to make it worse. It’s like chewing on a sore spot, even though it’s going to get bigger and bigger until you have a full-blown infection on your hands.

Think about that today, when you’re tempted to join the social media battles that rage all around. Sure, it feels good to get in and throw some punches, but is it helping? Is anyone’s life improved by it? Are we making a difference with our social media battles or are we just fanning the flames? Will the Facebook Wars ever unite anyone, or just keep widening the divide?

I love social media. It helps me feel connected to the world in a way I never have before, but honestly, which wolf is it feeding?

Or maybe we should be more like Lucy, who said, “I’d just feed ALL of the wolves, so they’d be my friends and attack-dogs.”
Yes Lucy, I think I’d like that too.