Excerpt from my latest column in the magazine I edit:
How many pieces of flair do you have? What are your favorites? Do you even know what a piece of flair is?
Pieces of Flair are the latest application on Facebook (a social networking site). Here’s the online description:
“Show off your interests with Pieces of Flair for your profile! Describe yourself with buttons. Send them to friends as gifts. Browse through our growing collection. If you don't find what you want, it's easy to make your own! Track how popular your creations become as they spread from friend to friend all over Facebook!”
This sounds very exciting to a teenager or a college student, or, I admit, even to a young professional like me. But, as I began sifting through all the different buttons with their unique phrases and designs, I caught myself wondering, what does describe me and my interests? How can I narrow that down to several buttons?
Most of the buttons say, “I love shoes,” “I love frogs,” “swimmers rule” or include movie quotes. There are buttons with different pictures of actors and actresses, singers, athletes and brand names. All designed to fit specific interests and to help the user display a broad picture of themselves so their friends can know more about them.
Am I really only about shoes, sports and my favorite movie catchphrases? Is that what I want people to see about me? What if I died and the only thing left were my Pieces of Flair? That doesn’t really describe my life, or at least I hope not. To truly know someone, you need to make a connection with them and get beyond the flair.
When voting for a candidate for office, don’t just latch onto the catchphrases and the media sound bites. Delve into their policy statements and their voting records. When reading about the numbers of women choosing an abortion, don’t assume that they made an informed decision, volunteer for a pregnancy care center and find out what’s really going on in their lives and offer them an option for life. When a strip club sets up shop in your small town, don’t assume that the goings-on are legal, go find out if you can fight for your community.
We need to get beyond the statistics and the news and get involved. Will you join me?
