Twitter, it seems overflows similarly from the heart to the fingertips and then is 'spoken' via a keyboard to be expressed publicly and globally. This can be a very dangerous situation unless the heart consults with the brain first, so the words can be woven with care.
A rather public example has recently shown how easily people can bring harm upon themselves by allowing the heart to overflow.
Stephanie Rice, Australian Olympic swimming gold medallist and sports poster girl, has recently suffered public humiliation. We do not know exactly what she 'tweeted' because the posts were quickly removed, but apparently she made some homophobic comments after the Australian rugby team, the Wallabies', historic win against South Africa last weekend.
It is reported that many people were angered and some homosexuals insulted.
Stephanie apologised profusely, but fellow Olympic gold medallist, Matthew Mitcham, who is openly gay, supported her, saying her comments were thoughtless but not malicious.
He did add, however, that he hoped the situation would be a wake-up call to encourage people to be extremely careful when using mass electronic media, as many had, indeed, been offended by Stephanie's comments.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/06/3004224.htm?site=sport§ion=more
Stephanie obviously posted something quickly in the spur of the moment, in the euphoria of the Wallabies' win, clearly without thinking of the consequences. It demonstrates how even the most polished athletes in media presentation can get caught out, and although we ourselves may not be in the public eye or have the same following on our Twitter or Facebook accounts, it should be a lesson to us to be careful.
It is very easy to think that we are having private conversations: but the reality of the new electronic communication technologies is that everything is public. For a high-profile person, the public arena is very, very wide indeed.
The sad part of all this is that Stephanie Rice could not make a private comment to her personal friends on this medium, and the result is that her indiscretion now reflects on herself, her family, her Olympic team mates, her sponsors and whoever else have stood alongside her. It has also reflected on her career, as she has lost some sponsorships as a result.
In another Biblical reference, we also need to be aware of how we criticise others - those who throw the first stone need to be cautious as this sort of thing could happen to any of us. A slip of the tongue, a crass comment, an unthinking jest, anything can be read by a host of people – some of whom we do not know personally.
We can look at the comment Stephanie Rice made and quickly forgive her and move on. Sadly this will be with her for a long, long time. Many of us who are not in the public eye might consider ourselves to be very fortunate.
The good news is, that if we do make mistakes – and it is human to do so - the Gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of fresh beginnings, at least this is true for those many Christians who have sought Jesus' forgiveness.