Suspended

Waking in the early hours of this morning to learn that my social media accounts on Instagram and Threads have been “suspended for violation of their terms” was a bit of a shock to say the least. I post very little on Instagram and while I am prolific on Threads, there is nothing I can think of that would prompt a suspension. Perhaps someone doesn’t like my content and reported me. It happens to others — as I’ve said before — why not me.

It reminds me of my childhood. I was very quiet in the elementary years, for various reasons and one of those was because in my home, if you spoke out of turn or spoke up, a reprimand was sure to follow. So my sister and I learned about silence. And staying under the radar. There was a day when I was in grade 2 when two girls in front of me in the line to enter at the bell were talking and laughing. The teacher on duty looked towards us and she wrongly called me out and told me to step out of line to await her reprimand. I admit I was shaking when she did that because I knew she was wrong and then I cried because the two girls who were guilty of this “crime” did not take responsibility. Worse than being wrongly accused I was afraid because I would now be late for school. I didn’t know which offense to be most frightened about. When I pled my case and was taken to my classroom, that lovely woman stood up for me, explaining it would be almost unheard of for me to be talking when I was not supposed to. An apology was issued to me but I never thought well of Mrs. Young afterwards. Imagine I still recall the lasting impression she made on my life, and I can recall how that incident felt all these years later. To this day I do not take kindly to being falsely accused of anything.

I think of all the people who are wrongly or falsely accused of crimes they didn’t commit. Or a faux pas that might land them in difficulty.

I don’t know what I’ve done to have a social media account suspended. I hope that it’s been a clerical error or a glitch in the system. But I know that it’s not the worst thing that has ever happened in my life and I’ll carry on. There are other ways to communicate in this world.

In the meantime, I await the appeal I have filed.