DON'T share.

There are a surprising number of friends on my Facebook who still have not gotten the memo about sharing bogus crap on Facebook. I will try not to sound too bitchy here.

Just kidding! This is totally bitchy.

Consider this your public service announcement.

You can share a photo that was likely stolen from some sick kid's parents ten million times. That child will NOT recieve a dollar for every like. They do not have a kidney somewhere pending a certain number of shares.

We all understand this, right? So we don't share those. Good.

Oh, but then comes another. This time, every "like" equals a prayer and we only keep scrolling if we are selfish assholes. But you want to pray for that child pictured amidst tubes and wires and machines...and you are not an asshole. No sir. So you "like" it, it shows up on my wall and not only am I ok with being that "asshole" but it makes me want to SCREAM!

I don't think God ever really counts a "like" as a prayer, but hey...I don't know the guy personally.

If you want to pray for a child, stop scrolling and pray for them. And while you're at it, pray for their parents who now have to worry that some weirdo is stealing the pictures of their kids in the hospital, adding some lie and backstory, and spreading it all over Facebook. So...let's not be that asshole.

I knew this was an issue, but I did not realize what a large scale affair this is. Don't ask me what an individual has to gain from making up a bogus story and attaching it to some one else's picture...this, I will never understand. But it happens...alot.

I belong to numerous support groups on Facebook for moms of babies with congenital heart defects. Post surgery photos are pretty gruesome looking, even when a child is healing from a planned surgery like the one Max is facing. These parents are learning the hard way, that those photos shouldn't be posted to the internet. Almost all of them who have posted such photos to the internet have had their photos stolen, and shared and shared and shared and shared. Every once in awhile, a fellow "heart mom" will snag a picture that was making the rounds on her wall and post it to the group "found this being circulated. Is this your child?"

Heartbreak, frustration, and worry. That's what you are sharing.

STOP SHARING THESE PHOTOS.

Stop liking them. Stop commenting on them.

Honestly, it's exhausting.

As parents of children with health concerns, we have enough to worry about. Really...it's plenty. I don't plan on posting post-op photos of Max on Facebook, but I hate that I can't because people are so freakin' weird.

and gullible.

*Also, not entirely unrelated, but there's no need to share a post that asks for shares for being a decent human being. For example: "Share if you are against child abuse! Keep scrolling if you have no heart."

Sharing this does not make you a good person. The vast majority of people that are currently not in prison, are against child abuse. The vast majority of people IN prison are against child abuse.

I don't know anybody that is "for" child abuse, and if you are friends with any, please send me their name and address.