Am I overreacting?

[formerlurker]

ThatPoetGuy (1000+ posts)             Tue Jul-26-11 03:44 PM
Original message
Am I overreacting? Asking for personal advice regarding a friend.
   
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An old friend of mine -- let's call him Ed -- is a struggling artist. He's poor and he lives in a bad neighborhood. One day, men were making noise outside his door, and he opened the door to yell at them to quiet down. One of the men attacked Ed, beating him badly enough that he had to go to the hospital.

He didn't have health insurance. He couldn't work due to his injuries. His glasses had been broken during the fight. He was feeling dizzy but he was afraid to see a doctor because he had no money.

I live a thousand miles away from Ed, so I couldn't do much to help him. Some years ago, he'd put up a webpage asking for donations to help him with an art project. I found that page, found it was still working, and sent him some money through PayPal. Then I posted the page to Facebook, asking my childhood and high school friends to contribute to help our old friend through this trouble.

The post sank like a rock, as FB posts often do. It just got buried on everyone's feeds. Hardly anybody saw it.

I asked another old friend, we'll call him James, to "Like" or share the post. I wanted our old friends, especially the ones who have money to spare, to see that another of our old friends was in trouble, and have the ability to donate him some money.

James clicked "Like." And then he changed his mind and clicked "UnLike."

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

James said the webpage only discussed donations for an old art project, and not the injuries. But I told him that was just because no one had made a page asking for donations to help our friend recuperate from the attack, that I didn't have access to Ed's PayPal account so I couldn't make a page for him, and that Ed needed money as soon as possible.

James said he didn't want to donate money unless he knew for certain it was going to medical expenses and not living expenses. But Ed was broke and desperate, teetering on the edge of homelessness, eating food he found in people's garbage; he needed help with his living expenses due to the attack, not only his medical expenses.

Besides, James didn't need to donate. I just needed him to ****ing click "Like" so more of our old friends would see and have the ability to help our friend in need.

I begged him to "Like" or "Share," but he refused. And no one but me gave Ed any money when he was desperate and injured. And I'm poor, I couldn't even spare a hundred dollars.

So basically, James is my oldest friend. I've known him since childhood. And since that night, I can't ****ing stand him. He'll call or text or IM and I won't reply. It isn't even deliberate on my part; I just feel ill when I hear from him.

Am I wrong? Am I overreacting? Am I just angry at him because it's an easy way for me to feel anger about what has been happening to my other friend? Or are his actions (and his refusal to act) as despicable as my gut tells me? It's a childhood friend. Does friendship mean you should look past asinine behavior?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=9744010&mesg_id=9744010


James is better off without you, do him a favor and defriend him on facebook.   

[Mr Mannn]

Overreacting. Hmmm lets see.

First, you name is ThatPoetGuy. Strike one.

Second, You're asking for advice on DU. Strike two.

third you're falling for a scam. You have NO way of verifying the truth. Strike three.

The fact that you are willing to end a lifelong friendship over a "like' option in facebook, means you are farking stupid.

Are you overreacting? YES!