Chain Messages – A Give-and-Take on Chain Messages
Chain Messages
Chain letters/messages has been the order of the day since the beginning of time. In primitive times specific messages were played on drums and transmitted by the drummer(s) of a village. Today we have the Internet and all kinds of electronic facilities such as cellular phones, e-mail and social network sites.
The purpose of chain messages is –
- To send a message to many people. This could be an important message, a warning of danger, or it could be arousing awareness of a specific issue. The tone of the message could be formal, friendly, or downright manipulative.
- To delegate the task of sending a message. Some messages don’t have a request to pass it on; we share it automatically, kind of obsessive-compulsive, with our closest friends. Some messages end with a kind request to share, while others end with an arrogant threat. I don’t need to waste any time by providing any examples of threats; all readers of electronic messages know exactly what I am talking about.
Relevant information about chain messages is available at Wikipedia and many other sites. In this hub I simply want to share my personal feelings and thoughts about them. I wonder if I am the only one suffering, instead of enjoying, chain messages?
A sincere message
Recently a sincere message made its rounds in Facebook. Many of us could not resist the temptation to react on it in a positive way, while others refused to react in any way.
The Message (without blatant errors):
I am so grateful you are a part of my life. This just seems to express it well. I am supposed to pick 12 people who I've gotten to know online (never met). It's funny we have never really met, I think that if this awesome group of people were ever to be in a room together, there is nothing that would be impossible.
I hope I chose the right twelve. May my hugs, love, gestures and communications remind you how special you are, there for each and every one of us. Now send this to 12 people (or more) (u can copy & paste) within the next 5 minutes, and remember to send this back to me, I count as 1, you'll see why. REMEMBER: THIS IS FOR ONLINE FRIENDS ONLY, PEOPLE YOU HAVE NEVER MET........and a wonderful friend you have been and still are. ♥
My emotions and thoughts:
- Surprise: “My goodness, am I this important in somebody else’s life?”
- Recognition: “Oh, it’s just one of those chain messages, sent on the spur of the moment by one of my dear friends. Being polite, I will reply with a sincere ‘thank you’, whether my name was automatically next on their list or not."
- Flattered: “But maybe I was chosen because he/she really regards me as one of their favorite online friends. Wow! Being human and vain, my vanity loves compliments and my pathetic ego constantly needs a boost."
- Envy: “The sender is quite a nice person. I feel honored to be so important in his/her life. But I wonder, am I one of the first three, or one of the last three? Where exactly do I fit in? Let’s face it - Me and I and Myself would love to be the first, second and third important person in the lives of trillions.”
- Embarrassment: “Oh, come-on, who do you think you are, Martie? Just come down to reality, puleez, before you believe you are the queen’s cat’s moustache. You are but only somebody living somewhere on this planet."
- Acknowledgment: “Yes, indeed, if my favorite online friends and I could be together for a couple of days, not in a room, but in a nice resort like a South African game reserve, nothing would be impossible. Oh, just allowing myself one or two thoughts of ‘not impossibles’, gives me the shivers.”
- Sadness: “How sad, we will never see each other in real life, and if we do…. Nothing seems to be as good in reality as it is in my mind. And don’t ever forget how painful it is to say ‘goodbye’, and especially when you will never see him/her again.”
- Shock: “Oh, he/she hope he/she has chosen the right twelve? So I might be a possible party-pooper in the back of their mind, or at least not who I seem to be on the Internet? So, thank you, dear sender, for admitting that you are having doubts about me.”
- Skepticism: “Your hugs, love, gestures and communications, dear sender, are much appreciated. Really, I do need it. Like any other human being, interaction with kindred spirits keeps me sane. I need to make sure I am, with all my weird thoughts and dreams, just as normal as you are. But surely I am not special; I am but only like you and all the others in our circle. We happen to have some mutual interests; we are members of the same site, some of our views on life are the same. After all, what exactly makes a person ‘special’? The nearest I could feel to ‘special’ is knowing I am the ONLY mother of my children and one of ONLY two grandmothers of my grandchildren. The feeling of being ‘special’ disappears when I am one of three or more. But okay, I know what you mean: I must be special in your eyes because I am unique and one of your twelve favorite online friends."
- Gratefulness: “Thank you Mom, Dad, Everybody I ever knew and God for shaping me in such a way that I can be considered today as one of twelve special people in the lives of hopefully more than twelve.”
- Agitation: “What? Now I must send the same message to 12 people within the next five minutes? WTH? I am not now in the mood to do this, and I refuse to stress myself emotionally by choosing only 12 of my many wonderful online friends as recipients of this message. And by the way, this message is not my style; I have other words and ways to show my love for others, and for each one of my friends I have a specific way and specific words."
- Insurgency: “I will overthrow this thread; I will destroy it by not acting in accordance with its demands.”
- Appreciation and love: “I will reply in my own way to the sender. I will focus on him/her and admit their importance in my life. If they were willing to admit my importance in their life, whether they were sincere or not, I will follow suit, but doing it my way and sincerely honest."
- Pigheadedness: “I will not send this message to 12 of my many-more-than-12 much appreciated online friends."
- Fear: “And what if I lose the respect and admiration of some of my friends by proving my stubborn and rebellious identity online?”
- Braveness: “Oh well, I’ll rather be dead than a puppet on anybody’s string. After all, I am still alive after swimming against the stream since the day I was born. If somebody does not manage to kill my spirit this time, I will swim on until death stops me."
© Martie Coetser (April 2012)
Copyright :: All Rights Reserved
Registered :: 2012-04-21 23:31:16 UTC
Title :: Chain Messages – A Give-and-Take on Chain Messages
Category :: Publication
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MCN :: CNKLV-PYU41-HWM88
