Who knew pastrami could get so contentious?
Scrolling through a social media feed and there it was. A monster of a sandwich being showcased by a New York City deli. Pastrami stacked perhaps 6 inches high towering over the two little pieces of bread failing miserably in their attempt to hold the whole thing together.
I’m not a fan of pastrami, but the photo intrigued me and I found myself diving into the comments made on the post in hopes of learning more about this pastrami masterpiece.
What I learned was even a discussion about pastrami was not exempt from turning hostile.
Any discussion about any type of food is expected to be lively. We are all protectively territorial when it comes to defending our culinary turf. Here, though, the topic of conversation shifted away from the sandwich and devolved into personal attacks which went well beyond food.
Yet another reason for me to dislike pastrami.
What I really dislike is the hostility.
There is good money to be made leveraging hostility and division, especially on social media. Such anger fuels “engagement” which is what media companies both large and small strive for. As we fight amongst ourselves they profit proportionally. And as long as we are willing to engage we’ll be given even more things to divide us against each other.
We don’t have to engage.
We don’t have to, as Pema Chodron said “bite the hook” just because it’s dangling right in front of us.
Even simply witnessing divisive hostile interactions drains my energy. Engaging in it is even more of an energy suck. I can feel it. So, I’ve stopped. I’ve removed myself from the fracas. I’ve been disengaging from the conversations, the situations, and those who are more than happy to fuel the hostility and divide.
If the world wants to have hostile and disrespectful discussions about pastrami sandwiches – or anything else – they’re just going to have to do it without me.
Everything is energy.
Energy is everything.
My energy is too important to be sucked up into the vortex of hate.
And so is yours.
Photo by Federico Beccari on Unsplash
Peter Mis LivingHalfFull.com 