The good and bad of blogging......................

Grab a cup of tea of coffee because this might be a long post.  Last night something happened as a result of blogging that really shocked me to my core.  A wonderful reader of this humble blog of mine contacted me stating that she had received an email from someone using Little Buddy's photo on a gofundme.com campaign to raise money.  This blogger took the time to open this email she received, search the site and contact me regarding the contents.  And as soon as I got her email I searched the site and with further help from her found a picture of my beautiful boy representing a bogus story to raise money.  I felt sick to my stomach, I still do.  With this readers help we were able to contain this situation before it got out of hand, and after several emails to gofundme.com the picture was removed and then that site was shut down.  I am so disturbed that someone would go on my blog and take advantage of my disabled son, but in the land of social media where everything is out there I guess I should not be surprised.

I am a careful blogger.  I don't mention my family by name, I don't post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or any of the other sites.  I thought I was being diligent, but it was not enough.  My first reaction was to completely shut down this blog and remove all the contents of it.  I want to make sure no one takes advantage of my son.  But after a very restless night  and a good long talk with my sister Claudia, I have calmed down a bit and my thoughts are now moving in a different direction.

You see we need to be there for each other just like this amazing reader was there for me and for Little Buddy.  She emailed me no less than seven times on a Friday evening to help me get to the bottom of this situation, she even included her phone number in case I needed more help.  And without her diligence and help Little Buddy would be used in a way that is sickening to think about.  We need to be aware and take the time to help each other just like this reader was there for me.  We need to be positive with each other and help when we can.  I will probably never meet the reader who helped me, but if I could I would give her the biggest hug ever.  There are horrible people out there in this big scary world of ours.  People who happen upon a blog and steal a picture of a little boy to make money off of him.  Now we know far worse things happen in life, but look how easy this was to do.  And without help from a friend I would have never known it was happening.

So after a lot of thought and wisdom from my older sister I have decided that if I were to shut down this blog then the ugly, pathetic people out there would win.  I enjoy blogging because of the interaction I have with all of you.  I thought seriously about never including Little Buddy again, but you would miss him, he is such an inspiration to me and so many.  He is on a journey that is interesting and motivating in so many ways.  I want to capture that for all of you and for him.  

So for now I remain here standing strong and steady.  But I stand here with all of you standing right next to me, holding my hands and creating a big circle of friendship.  I am here for you just as you are here for me.  We have to take care of each other and watch out for each other with love and compassion.  We have to reach out to each other when we see something that is not right, just like my friend did for me and Little One.

My emotions are all over the place right now.  I am disgusted, and  feeling violated in a way.  But overall I am feeling gratitude to a reader who took the time to help me out and make sure Little Buddy was not taken advantage of.  Lets be there for each other and learn a lesson that we are stronger together than we are apart.

And just to prove my point here is our little guy.  Boy is he in need of a haircut!