It's fascinating how many heroes live among us today. You won't meet them on the street, you won't see them organizing anything, creating, or taking responsibility. But just open social media – and suddenly you're surrounded by an army of fearless fighters. Keyboard warriors. A Czech specialty, almost like dumplings.
From the safety of their couch, ideally in slippers and with a coffee in hand, the most important battle of our time is waged: the battle for the last word in the comments section. Here, people judge, condemn, insult, and "smart-aleck" with an ease that would be admirable… if there was any substance behind it.
But often, there isn't.
One post is enough – and immediately, experts on everything emerge. Politics? Of course. Economy? Naturally. Child-rearing, architecture, medicine, the universe? No problem. Everything is wrong, everything could be done better. Yet, we somehow never learn how – and certainly not from people who would ever actually try.
Negativity has become the new sport. The sharper the comment, the more likes. The greater the sarcasm, the greater the feeling of victory. And yet… what kind of victory is that, really? Winning an argument with someone I don't know, about something I've never tried?
Perhaps it would be worth trying a small experiment. Take the energy one puts into writing venomous comments and invest it elsewhere. Create something. Organize something. Improve something – even just in one's immediate surroundings. Find out firsthand how complicated it is to come up with something, push it through, and see it to completion.
Because it's not as easy as it looks from behind a keyboard.
Criticism has its place. Without it, we wouldn't move forward. But criticism without effort, without responsibility, and without personal experience? That's just noise. A digital echo of ego that brings nothing.
Perhaps then, it wouldn't be a bad idea to occasionally close the comments and open up to reality. Turn off the keyboard and turn on our own initiative. Less fighting on the internet, more action in the real world.
Because a true hero isn't recognized by how quickly they write a comment. But by what remains after them.