That Awkward Encounter At the Grocery With Someone You Unfriended On Facebook

You can’t exactly tell them that you deleted them on purpose during the election

The best thing about the last election year is that it is over.

I’ve never been a particularly political person. There were times when I wouldn’t even vote because I was okay with either candidate.

I admit I just didn’t keep up with what was going on in the world.

There were a few exceptions. I made a point to vote against Roy Barnes in the Georgia gubernatorial race ten years ago because he belittled teachers and said he didn’t need our votes. He was wrong. He did need us. He found himself out on his kiester.

Then he tried to apologize and run for governor again. He lost. We, teachers, have memories like an elephant.

After I retired as an educator, I began to pay more attention to what was going on in the world. And boy, was there a lot going on!

What bothered me the most about the past two elections was the sheer nastiness of the politicians and their supporters.

What is the point of running anti-bullying campaigns in our schools if the leaders of our country are calling each other names?

It made no sense to me at all.

The worst of it was how neighbors, friends, family members turned against each other. Are politics worth the loss of loved ones?

It reached the point where even my husband and I found ourselves on opposite sides of the election. I ended up unfriending him on Facebook because he was forwarding hateful political memes after I asked him to stop.

He is a grown man and doesn’t have to do what I ask. But I don’t have to be friends with him on Facebook either. Facebook was where I was doing most of my writing and sharing family anecdotes. He missed it all because he was posting things that he knew offended me.

I ignored so many of my Facebook friends and acquaintances as best I could when they were spewing political hate speech. But, there were times when the nastiness got so bad I hit the unfriend button. Sometimes, it was painful, but it was necessary for my peace of mind.

Today I ran into an old friend at the grocery store. Unfortunately, she was one of the people I unfriended in the election. She spoke to me briefly and mentioned that she hadn’t been seeing me on Facebook.

She didn’t linger to talk, and I wondered if she knew that she had been unfriended. After all, Facebook doesn’t send out a big announcement when it happens.

I told her a true story. My Facebook account was hacked and deactivated, and I had to open a new one.

She vaguely mentioned finding my new account and headed to the checkout line.

If she tries to friend me, I will accept. This woman was once my Sunday School teacher and someone that I admired very much. She has the right to her political views, but I was upset when she posted them on my wall.

It crossed a line for me. Once upon a time, I thought that I would never want to see her again. But, well, I did see her today.

We were both wearing face masks in the store, so I didn’t recognize her. However, she is the one to spoke to me and took off her face mask so I could see who she was.

Despite our political differences, she is still the same Christian woman that I admired so much.

I don’t want politics to cost me a friend. If she friends me, I will accept. It’s time to move on.

It’s time for our country to move on as well. We can’t make things better if we don’t work together regardless of our party affiliations.