FaultBook

Today marks exactly three weeks since I last logged on to Facebook. You know what that means? Reflection time! Last week when my best friend (who is doing this with me) visited, we talked about it a little and how easy it really is. She made a good point that I very much agree with. She said that, when it comes down to it, Facebook is for stalking and making yourself look good. Not that either of these things is entierly wrong or the whole purpose of Facebook, but it's pretty true. This could be applied to tons of things on the internet, especially the "making yourself look good." Which got me thinking.

What if there was a site that made you show your faults*? What if you could only show the parts of you that you try to hide at all costs? Your profile picture had to be a picture of you just as you open your eyes in the morning - remnants of yesterday's eye makeup half an inch below your eyes, hair as fluffy as a bird's nest. And your photo albums consisted of pictures of you on the nights you spend alone, crying and wasting time doing pointless things.

What if your statuses had to be about how you spent more time that day stalking your ex's girlfriend than you'd ever want to admit, or how you're way more jealous than happy for a friend's newest accomplishment.

What if your "About Me" looked like this:

I don't let people win arguments.
There are often nights I cry about the guy that broke my heart two years ago after going on dates even now.
I was sexually abused as a child and it has an effect on all of my relationships.
I have really bad morning breath.
I talk behind my friend's back all the time.
I think I'll end up more successful than most of my friends.
I'm afraid of commitment.
I run when a situation gets difficult.
If you try to get close to me, I'll probably flip out and question the crap out of your intentions.
I suffer from an eating disorder.


Then what? If we could see everyone's faults before getting to know them, would there be certain faults we stay away from? Would we only choose to becomes friends with people whose faults are similar to our own? Because, faults almost always surface themselves after you're already close friends with those people. So, at that point, it doesn't even matter because you already love the person.  Personally, because of my own pride, I think there are definitely faults I would see and say "I'm glad I'm not that person" or "That is way too much for me to handle, becoming friends with them is not worth it." I think it would be very similar to hobbies. If I see someone enjoys Harry Potter, I will want to be their friend. If it's cars they're most passionate about, I won't have as much interest in getting to know them better. In the same way, people who suffer from things I know nothing about I wouldn't necessarily be interested in getting to know.

I think we have a lot to learn from our opposites, though. Why are people passionate about the things we think are quite... stupid? How can we help people who suffer from things we'll probably never know about first hand? The first step to erasing ignorance and apathy is understanding. I want to understand better. Let's strive to understand better.

Meanwhile, I don't think this fault site will be taking off anytime soon. I guess I should stay in school and accept the fact that I never will be Mark Zuckerburg. Or date him, for that matter.

*Hypothetical faults are hypothetical and used for the sake of example.

Hope you guys are great. And you SO better be doing BEDA. :]