Okay, I admit, I love Twitter and Facebook!  I visit several times throughout my day.  It's great to reconnect with friends, read ideas (by minds I admire in the industry) and just generally feel connected to a broader world on some level.

I realized today that it is also a way to spread the word about things we believe in, but at the same time find myself reluctant to be fully and completely vulnerable or exposed in this format.

I RT (which means ReTweet for those who don't use Twitter - that is posting someone else's thoughts on your own note so that people who are interested in your thoughts will see that other person's too).  Anyway, I RT today about Tori Stafford's dad riding his bicycle across Canada to raise money for Child Find related organizations!  A very noble quest and probably a great way for the father of this sweet little child to do some grieving.  Then I clicked on the link....he's not wearing a helmet....first thing to enter my mind.  Not that I'm in any way less impressed by his journey, but really wishing that he'd wear one so that all the kids that see him making this trip see the importance of wearing one.  Example setting.  But I didn't say a thing about it....

Then I went on to one of my favourite people/groups to follow: Inhabitat.  They always seem to have the coolest stuff on their tweets with links to so many amazing environmental issues and progress.  They were tweeting today about how a company is making spray on solar panels!  Right away my radar went off!  But out of respect for them, I went to the site to check it out....then I came back and felt well within my power to tweet that I didn't think this one was environmentally friendly, that it contains nanoparticles - I didn't get to include my other concerns for it because you only get to tweet with 140 characters....and quite frankly I didn't want to have to write several notes.

So, why did I not mention anything to this grieving dad?  Perhaps it is just based on the personal piece here.  I'm thinking that it was a matter of recognizing his pain driving his mission while the other stuff was just another green thing that came across my screen.  Personal relationships and real people still have more impact on how we respond to things we encounter....for most of us anyway (I believe).

Well, I'm off to get the things that need to be done in my little world.  Happily, while I'm cleaning my house I will know that I am doing so with the products that are the best for me, my family and my planet.

Christine McKague

What's In Store

www.whatsinstore.ca