I will, however, update the situation I wrote about not quite a month ago, after I unfriended someone on Facebook I've known since I was a grade schooler.
I didn't end up responding to his text right away as I wanted my senses to cool down a bit. I wanted to think long about what I wanted to say to him. In the interim, he attempted to video call me, but I didn't pick up.
I turned 69 on the 1st of this month, and while I had my text ready to go, I decided that I was going to enjoy my day without giving him the opportunity to spoil it. So, I sent it the next day:
"Hi _______. I see you tried video-calling me the other day... I've been busy with ten or more different diversions in the last week, so I'm sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I've also put off responding as I wanted to give my words careful thought.
Here's the thing... my dropping you on Facebook had less to do with whom you voted for than the vile, cruel, vicious, ugly, baseless attacks in the memes you shared, which were most often race-based and misogynistic. It's poison. And please don't try to equate it with my criticisms of a convicted fraudster, serial sexual predator, adjudicated rapist, and known liar and cheater—those are actual facts—not my opinions or "fake news" or some "deep state" conspiracy. And let's not leave out the fact that he instigated the attack on the Capitol.
Of course, it wasn't enough for you to post your crap leading up to the election, you kept right on after it was over because... sore winner? When I unfriended you, it was after several days of consideration; I thought, why do I want to be associated with someone like that? You might not have posted it on my page (as you had previously under my photograph of Harris) but it still popped up in my feed. Politics isn't a football game, _______. Real human beings are going to be hurt in the coming years thanks to the results of this election for no other reason than hate and a desire to make less-fortunate people suffer. Very possibly, I'm going to lose my Social Security somewhere down the road, which is all I have to live on these days because people aren't hiring 69-year-old photographers. Medicare is also at risk. I have a mentally ill son who relies on government assistance to get by. And there are a LOT of people worse off than I am or my son is.
As if the ugly, disgusting, untruthful attacks on Harris weren't enough, you decided to publicly attack me with insinuations about why I moved to San Francisco, which I deleted before I even finished reading because about ten words was all I needed to see. I still can't believe that you'd even considered going there. Even if I WERE gay, you have no right to come to my page and disparage me for it. I can't believe I even have to say that. Who does that to a friend?
So, I'm not sure at the moment what I want to do. I believe you're sincere with your apology and your promise not to post such crud on my page again, but again I ask myself why? How do I relate with someone who seems to have such a deep hatred for others who are just trying to live in the world?"
So, very likely that will be the end of it. I've not heard back from him, and I'm not really inclined at this point to follow up. I've got other stuff I feel is more important to me at this moment. And I'm still fucking depressed about this stupid fucking country.
That said, I was thrilled to make contact with a friend in Paris I'd not heard from in a long time. I'm not going to go into details, but her life has taken quite a few bad turns since last we were in touch (not least of which was catching COVID-19), so I was so very happy to hear from her, despite the bad news that accompanied her emails. I hope we can forge some kind of new beginning now that she's opened the door a crack.
