Look What a Good Person I Am!

Yesterday I read this article and posted a link to it on my Facebook page. I posted it because the words virtue signaling were new to me and I was thinking that the concept explained a lot of what I've seen recently.

Virtue signaling, according to an on-line dictionary is "the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue." It seems it is a way to get credit for being a good person without having to actually do anything good.

Earlier today I posted a link to this blog post on my Facebook page. I posted it because the writer had articulated so well the jumble of thoughts that have swirled around in my head for so many weeks. At least that is the reason I believe I had for the posting. Who knows what my subconscious is up to?

Now I'm thinking about having posted the link to the piece about Mr. Trump's character was virtue sharing on my part. Facebook is a place to share abridged or redacted versions of ourselves; that is, we tend to share pieces of ourselves that we want people to know about, pieces that show us in a good light. 

There's another piece to it, though. I think that I -- and many of my Facebook friends -- post things that might be interpreted as virtue sharing for a different reason. For me, it's because I often feel helpless, powerless in the face of this President; I get to a point where I think, "I have to do something!" and so I rail a bit on Facebook because I think that is all I can do. But the Facebook mini-rant doesn't accomplish anything, really.

It's a conundrum.

Like so many people I know, I am angry, sad, frustrated, and a good many other things by what is going on in our country and by the words and actions of its leadership. But it isn't enough to just talk about it.  I need to find other ways to express my convictions. Ways of actions rather than words.