I recently received some e-chain letters on Facebook. I am inclined to disregard them. I don’t think they help people much and they are a real burden.
First, what is an e-chain letter? Just like old school chain letters or emailed chain letters, they ask you to resend the same information to a bunch of other people. Now they are widespread in social media, too. Sometimes they promise good fortune if you comply and sometimes ill fortune if you don’t comply. Other times they have some kind wish or motivational saying. They always ask you to forward it or repost it so other people will have to do the same thing, too.
I was surprised to get e-chain letters from some intelligent and kind women friends of mine via Facebook and even Facebook messenger. The posts both said how much the sender loved me and that if I really loved her, I would send it back to her and also post it to a certain number of friends, too.
I actually felt conflicted for a little while. I certainly don’t want my friends to think I don’t love them. but I also don’t want to burden up my own friends with having to forward it on to their friends and so on and so on, which is the nature of all chain letters.
The first e-chain post I ignored and hoped it wouldn’t hurt the relationship. When the second one came along, I had a brilliant idea. I sent her a message back letting her know I don’t pass along those kinds of posts, but I wanted her to know I loved her. She replied to my message and acknowledged our mutual care for each other. Our relationship appears to still be intact.
I considered what would be a better option than passing along e-chain letters. I believe that a heartfelt expression holds a ton more value than some message that is copied and pasted to your list of contacts. Anything that requires initiative and an original expression of feelings for a person will be far better received and more effective at actually positively impacting the recipient.
Later in the morning, I went out to breakfast with a cherished friend. I told her, “I want you to know that you bring a lot of value to a relationship. You have a lot of life experience to share and compassion and also your relationship with Jesus. I really appreciate you.”
She was delighted and grateful, too. She said no one had told her anything like that before. Then she said she’d carry that with her for the rest of the day.
Yes, I’m confident that a personal expression of thanks for what a person adds to our lives is way better than some dumb post to everybody and their mother on Facebook. A hand-written note can be even more powerful. So let’s skip on passing along e-chain letters and posts and let people we care about know that we really care about them.
