I come back home from the Paschal services, turn on my PC and see I've got Paschal Greeting e-mails from distant parts of the world, private messages here and there, and some of my friends are online in chat.
In one of the messages, a person tells me "even though is Pascha, I make a full postration to the ground before you". I think to myself Really? Has this person stood up from his chair, made a postration to the ground before the computer, and then continued to type the message?
Meanwhile, I am chatting online with a friend, who has been working all night, first as a reader in Church services, afterwards helping out the brothers in the monastery in entertaining the large number of visitors, going here and there bringing out the food, taking the dirty dishes from the Trapeza to the kitchen, scrapping the wax off the Church's floor, sweeping the altar, wiping the Icons, etc...
The webcams work good, but the sound is terrible, after we got tired of trying to make it work, we decide to chat with text. I typed something funny, and my friend responds with "hehehehehehe" and
but he is not even smiling! and I tell him "You look terrible, you're not even smiling, your webcam's on Remember?".
I'm so happy because of Pascha, that I can't sleep, so I decide to take a look at some blogs, and I see a post from one of my friends a very decent young woman, family oriented, saying terrible things. I was gobsmacked and alarmed, so I decide to phone her and ask "Are you really in a party right now, got drunk and naughty?" She says "Huh?" then silence, and suddenly a hysterical laughter, and a silly explaination "Naaaay! I'm knackered and bored, I was just teasing N... and N....
Why do people say things even when they are not true while they are online?
Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us to flee from all falsehood, and cling to the Truth.
Why do people change their behaviour so radically that they say and do things they would never do in real life?
Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us to flee from contradictory behaviour, and calls us to be whole.
Why people lose sense of reality in the cyberworld and treat each other in ways they wouldn't in real life?
Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us to pay heed, and have compassion, and to treat every person with love, for all are precious to Him.
It's very important for us to be attentive to ourselves, and don't get carried away by the mysteries of the cyberworld. We must be the same person online and in real life, keeping in mind what we must and must not do.
Integrity means to be a one piece person, when we are in public, and when we are alone, when we are in real life, and when we are here in the cyberworld.
Words are deeds and we have to answer for each deed we do.
So next time, if you're not really laughing, don't type "hehehhe" don't post a
that's falsehood.
Some might say I am exaggerating, and think those little lies and not important, and are simply a way of talking, but a little lie brings a bigger one, and if we make it into a habit, we become enslaved by falsehood before we can notice.
Words are powerful deeds, with one word you can make others smile, and with one word, you can break the hope of many.
With one word, you can inspire others, or stir up the most terrible passions.
Let us flee from every tiny piece of falsehood and evil, so we don't fall into bigger ones.
Let us wake up from the charms of the mysteries of the cyberworld, and be true to ourselves and others!
Poll
