I can't breathe....

I was just sat here reading about all the gun violence and senseless deaths happening in America right now. All the prejudice and hatred and fear. Thinking how many people must die before something positive changes. Looking through my Facebook feed at all the hate and prejudice and misinformation. My chest tight, drawing breath labored. Then I saw this song/video shared by my friend Sarah on Facebook titled: 'I Can't Breathe'.

I am not a religious person but I'm sat here wondering where are all the Christians. Because Christians value life, all life, everyone's life. Because Christians follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to love one another, no matter what. Taught us not to judge others unless we be judged ourselves. He taught us not to condemn others for their sins as it is not our place, we are not the Lord God. He taught us to turn the other cheek and give unconditional love to our fellow man, no matter who they are or what they believe. Jesus taught us to do unto others as we'd have them do unto us. Jesus taught us to look after those less fortunate than ourselves, to love our neighbors no matter who they are. Where are the Christians?

Three of the 10 commandments come to mind right now, which I don't see self proclaimed Christians giving a damn about on their facebook feeds....

Thou shalt not kill..... At the rate Americans are killing each other right now it is literally like a war zone. Men, women and children. Every. Day. And people don't hardly bat an eye. It's common place now. They tell themselves they are not the one doing the killing so it's no skin off their nose....but it is. If you allow it, condone it for any reason, are not upset by the killing because he's black or a criminal or any other reason..then yes, you are part of the problem. This is unbearable for me, why isn't it unbearable for everyone?

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour (meaning you shouldn't lie or spread lies).... The false and misleading messages shared, the out right lies, all the hate. Political and not....People don't look for the facts, they agree with the message so they are going to share it, no matter who it hurts. This also is unbearable for me, why isn't it unbearable for everyone?

and...

Thou shalt not covet. But covet they do and they covet guns. Guns are more important than religion in America. This is what I see. This is what my facebook feed is telling me. This too is unbearable for me, why isn't it unbearable for everyone?

I can't breathe......

Fun with my Facebook profile page.

Recently I've seen a few screen shots about of people's new facebook profile pages where they've uploaded sections of photos and tagged them to show up across the top of their profile page to form a bigger picture. Some self portraits, some lovely landscapes, and so on. Well I thought I'd have a go, but with my own twist. I didn't know how others made their pages at the time so I developed my own way. What I did was take a screen shot of my profile page, paste in photoshop, cut out the images where I wanted my photos to show up which made little windows. I then slid my photo behind the windows and arranged how I wanted. Then I cut the images out and uploaded the pieces to facebook, tagging myself so they showed up on my profile page. This is my result:

Yes I know, I did it the hard way. If you'd like some easier ways to do this follow these links which people have since shared with me:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8206661/How-to-hack-your-Facebook-profile-picture-a-step-by-step-guide-to-refacing-your-profile.html

http://picscatter.com/

If you have a go at this please feel free to share! You can leave a link to your photo in the comment section below or if you have a flickr account you can post it to the Odd Signs group I started here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/oddsigns/ If you are a member of DSLR User Magazine forum you can post your results to this thread: Facebook Photography Fun