'Honor student' isn't same thing as 'honorable person'

Education is valuable, no doubt about it.

I wish I had taken time to get more formal education when I was younger. Undoubtedly some people who know me wish I had done so as well.

But there is one thing education cannot do; it cannot make someone a good person. A trial going on this week affirms that truth..

You have heard about the woman who finished in the top 5 percent of her class yet shot her boyfriend multiple times and then said to police, "I gave (my boyfriend) the nose job he always wanted" followed by peals of laughter.

I wonder why the news keeps reporting she was an honor student, as if being an honor student somehow makes one honorable. We know that is not true.

I knew a girl many years ago whose father was doing time in prison. His actions left his family practically destitute, according to mutual friends.

He was a professional man with a doctor of laws degree so I am sure he was not only intelligent but in all likelihood had been an honor student.

When you look at our federal government and see how many lawyers have occupied seats in Congress and in the White House over the years it is obviousl there is not always a connection between someone being honorable and being an honor student.

It's a distinction we need to remember and I wish the media wouldn't keep blurring the lines between the two qualities.

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Did you hear about the woman who received an anonymous letter complaining about her Facebook posts?

She likes to take pictures of her baby and post them for the world to see.

A lot of people do that. I just happen to think our kids and grandkids are extra special but that's my prerogative.

I usually post a "like" to the adorable pictures of other people's children on Facebook. They brighten my day.

If I post a negative comment, it's usually in response to a political viewpoint with which I disagree. That, too, is my prerogative.

I can't imagine taking the time to write a letter, anonymous or signed, to a Facebook user and complain that they are posting too many photos of their children.

Now, if they are divulging information that could bring harm to the family, that's a different matter, but I wouldn't let them know in an anonymous letter.

You know what? You don't have to look at Facebook. That is one solution if you are offended by what you see.

You can "unfriend" a person. That way they do not see your posts and you don't see theirs.

I have unfriended just a couple people over the years as I recall. I never did like them and when I realized I was allowing their posts to stir up negative thoughts and emotions in me, I just unfriended them. I need to stay positive and if that means avoiding people who bother me, so be it.

I may have been unfriended more than once myself. That's OK.

As I've heard so many times, it takes a variety of flowers to make a garden and it takes many kinds of people with different viewpoints to make a world.

The Facebook situation is not new.

I'm sure it was in 1922 that a woman became exasperated because she wanted to use the telephone and her neighbor was tying up the party line all day.

Unfortunately, she couldn't choose the people who were on her party line but we can choose our friends.

Here's hoping you surround yourself with positive happy people today!

Frank Phillips is a reporter for The Brazil Times