An Open Letter To My Facebook Page Hackers

Last updated on: December 20, 2015 at 1:11 pm by Debra Landwehr Engle

An Open Letter To My Facebook Page Hackers 2015-12-20T13:11:31-05:00 Debra Landwehr Engle

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A few weeks ago, the Facebook page for my book The Only Little Prayer You Need was hacked. It’s not just that the hackers posted some objectionable material on the page. Instead, they removed me as administrator of the page and took over full control so I couldn’t remove what they’d posted and, after the first day, couldn’t even comment on it.

I haven’t felt that powerless since the time I went to pick up a rental car on a business trip and discovered my driver’s license had expired. No matter what I did, I literally couldn’t get in the driver’s seat.

I have no idea why the hackers did this, but I do know that my whole body reverberated with fear. What other pages or accounts did they have access to? What would they do next? How was this even possible?

Along with many supportive followers of the page, I sent reports to Facebook, but nothing changed. By the third day, I was practically shaking as I checked the page and found obnoxious new posts. I felt like I was sitting on the San Andreas Fault, and at any moment I might just fall in.

Near my desk I keep a book of quotes from A Course in Miracles, and I asked Spirit to open it to a passage with the specific message I needed to understand the fear. I wasn’t at all surprised when I opened to these quotes: “In my defenselessness, my safety lies.” And “It is not danger that comes when defenses are laid down. It is safety. It is peace. It is joy. And it is God.”

The Course teaches that attack and defense are two sides of the same coin. They’re actually both expressions of fear—a dynamic you can feel no matter which side of that coin you’re on.

Restoring my peace would mean surrendering a belief that I’d been attacked, and I can tell you for sure that my ego wasn’t too happy about it. It kept waving its hands in my face and jumping up and down. “Fight back,” it said. “Don’t let the bad guys win!”

Despite the internal protests, I sat down in front of the computer with a different intention. Maybe, my higher mind said, I could write a letter to the hackers and regain my peace of mind. So I started to write, not sure what would come out:

To the creative hackers who have taken over my Facebook page, I want to thank you…honestly. Yesterday when I discovered what had happened, I got rattled and felt the fear rise up instantly. What would happen to my page? My followers? My reputation? What would I do with the frustration of knowing I’m not in control? So, of course, I’ve been asking for my fear-based thoughts to be healed, which is the whole point of this page.

As I’ve done that, I’ve realized several things. First, you are highly creative people who are skilled at what you do, and I admire that. I truly do. You have knowledge far beyond my comprehension, and it’s knowledge that’s important and valuable in this world.

Also, when I was little, I’d create books and teach classes for fun because I loved it. And now I get to do it for real…how awesome is that? I’m guessing that you’ve enjoyed technology since you were little, too, and this is an expression of what you love.

And, most of all, it you’ve helped me realize how alike we are in another way. I write books and share a message that I think is important partly because I want to be acknowledged. I want to know that I make a difference. I think you do what you do for the same reason. You want to be seen, even if it’s anonymously. You want to make an impact. You want to know that you have the power to change things.

So I say, good for you! Again, I’m not leading up to a sarcastic punch line here or trying to manipulate you. I mean this truly. The form of what we do looks very different, but underneath it all, I think we’re motivated for many of the same reasons.

Because of that, I’m not feeling attacked anymore. I’m not feeling violated. I feel like I’ve found some kindred spirits, actually, as odd as that might sound.

Thank you for being my teachers. Please know that you have made a positive difference in my life.

By the time I was done, I was at peace again. And while I couldn’t post the letter on my own page because the hackers had made that impossible, I sent it to them via Spirit mail, asking for the message to be delivered energetically.

Of course, I can’t say for sure whether the hackers received it, but within a couple of days, they took down the crude posts and started posting thoughts that are more in line with intent of the page.

I still don’t know when or if I’ll get the page back, but I do know that, of all the things the hackers seemed to have taken from me, my ability to choose peace was not one of them.

And now? It’s time to start using “Facebook” and “forgiveness” in the same sentence. I’ll keep you posted on that.

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