On January 9th, I wrote a blog about the passing of my friend Jack. It was a hard piece to write, and the tears flowed while I typed the story of our 37-year friendship, with a 30-year gap in the middle, and how just when we reconnected, he died.

Thanks to my tech guy Rick, my blog is automatically posted to my Facebook page at 6:30 a.m. on the first of the month and on all days that can be divided by three. The lead photo appears, along with the first few lines of the entry. To read “the rest of the story,” one must click on the link and go to my actual blog site.

Unfortunately, not a lot of people follow the link. And while I certainly understand the demands on our “free time” to read, and also the fact that our overall attention spans apparently grow shorter with each passing year, there’s a burr under my saddle here.

On Facebook, I’ve been receiving comments that have NOTHING TO DO with the point of the blog entry. “Readers” who read only the first couple lines are keying on that and posting things that are not only incongruous, but downright silly.

Case in point: To introduce the blog about Jack’s passing, I used the Latin phrase “Requiescat in pace,” and segued into the root meaning of mortal, mortuary, and remorse, before telling of my deep sense of loss.

People who scanned only the first few lines on the RSS feed made comments about learning LATIN, and not about my friend’s untimely death.

So I’m throwing out a challenge; it will be our little inside joke. If you read this far, and you got here by coming in from the Facebook link, please go back to Facebook and type in the last letter of your first name in the comment space. Nothing more, just the last letter of your first name with no explanation at all.

It’s a social experiment (Facebook does them all the time), and I’m just curious to see what will happen. Mum’s the word, though. Please don’t share or give it away. Let’s just see what kinds of crazy stuff is posted.

 

If you want to make other comments, feel free to write them HERE.