I’m hearing and reading countless versions of the following stories:

“ My friend who is a _____ says this is no big deal at all”.

“ I know a guy who works at _______ hospital and they’re out of supplies, everybody is near death and the medical staff are working back to back shifts with no sleep”.


Like most things, I imagine the truth is found somewhere in the middle but it doesn’t help that many people are driven by emotions and care less about facts in these situations.

On a related note... my wife’s friend who I’ve long suspected as an out right liar and story teller texted my wife the other day after the earthquake in Utah with the following:

“Hey, just wanted to let you know that my friend who works for FEMA just texted me and he told me to be prepared for a massive earthquake to hit over the next hour or two. Just wanted you to know! crazy right!”

At this point I had already seen dozens of that stupid forwarded text, post and email that was rumored to be from the U of U and FEMA so when I saw my wife’s friends text it just confirmed to me that many people have no problem spreading false information and in this case lies.

As for my wife’s friend, I figured she was a liar but now I know she is also dumb.

I wish people would put their foot down when it’s clear that people are spreading half truths and falsehoods. If you don’t know something, it’s fine. Don’t pretend to know by sharing false information or bits of truth.