Unicorns and Rainbows

I love Facebook. It keeps me in touch with relatives and friends and the Japanese photographer I love to the bottom of my soul.

Then, I hate Facebook. It sucks me in with stories designed to raise the hackles. Stories that have not been vetted to confirm they really did happen.

Artist's rendering (or why I'm not an artist)

In today's example, there is a woman in Baltimore who says she got a hate note from a neighbor because she put multi-colored mason jars in her yard. The neighbor accused her of being "relentlessly gay" and invoked GOD as frowning on her little yardly display.

Now, if this is a true story, the neighbor is a flaming a-hole, and the woman has cause for indignation. What she did next, however, makes me go, "hmmm."

She set up a "Go Fund Me" page to rainbow-ify her yard. So far, she has collected in excess of $37,000.

Some are lauding her for her ingenuity. Others are questioning the veracity of her claim. (The quirky capitalization on the note that matched her original Go Fund Me page, since edited, was called out.)

I decided to hold off contributing to her cause. How much rainbow-ing will $37,000 buy you? I supposed she could acquire a mini van and paint it like the Partridge Family bus and park it in her driveway. Frankly, her indignation might carry more weight if she donated her money to an organization like Forty to None, which helps gay and transgender youth who are homeless.

The lessons for all of us may be: 1. Don't assume what you read on the internet is true. It may be, but, unlike newspapers in the olden days, there's no certainty a story has been fact-checked before it goes viral. (Snopes.com is a good source, but they haven't weighed in on this story yet.) 2. Of course, you can donate your hard-earned cash to whomever you wish, but it's a good idea to check their bonafides to make sure the cash you're forking over is going where it's supposed to go. One source is http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0074-giving-charity.

Okay, okay, I'm climbing off the pulpit now.

It's almost time to go hang out at my own favorite non-profit. With the cool cats. To embrace the inner purr. And, of course, scoop the poop with the gang.