A dozen unexpected words on my little Droid screen that probably took him less than 30 seconds to key into his phone .... a dozen words. A gift that stuck with me the rest of the day.
***
I should have stopped there and done something useful like vacuuming or sweeping up glass in the alley. The next thing I read was a couple of comments on a friend's Facebook status from a guy who called me stupid and a fool. Several times a fool. It was surprisingly aggressive.
Once again, it couldn't have taken him long to fling his cruel words at me, a stranger. Maybe 30 seconds and those words, his intention to body-slam me in public, were there for a lot of people to see. Oh, he really showed me!
It's so easy to be an asshole, isn't it? This guy doesn't know me, and he never will. Yet somehow he found time in his precious day to insult me several times.
I don't engage with that kind of shit though. I wrote something witty and cutting .... then I deleted it and the rest of my comments and moved on. Some people like anonymous word wars. I don't. I prefer to remember I'm dealing with a real person, not just some letters on a screen.
The worse insult though is that this guy wasn't even clever. There's no fun to be had in trading insults with a rhetortard who has nothing in his bowl of Alphabits except a couple of tired ad hominem attacks.
The truth is, this guy didn't bother me all that much, and it's because I didn't engage. If I had, I might have had a funny couple of screen shots to share here along with some bitterly amusing sarcasm, but I'd rather floss my teeth or mow the lawn or masturbate with a carrot.
***
A while later, I saw a third message -- a passive aggressive, drive-by punch in the gut. Again, it probably took less than a minute to write, and then quite a bit longer to gloat over.
Again, it's the kind of message I neither understand nor want to engage with, so I won't do it here. When somebody tosses razor blades out to see if any will stick instead of engaging in honest communication in private, it's best to doctor your own wounds and move on.
***
Three different messages in a short period of time. None of them took much physical effort or time to write. Only one of them inspired me. Only one of them reminded me what I want to offer to the people I care about, and to the people I want to care about me. Only one was important.
It takes the same amount of time to put a
I'm glad we became friends too. Thank you.
*If I have a minute or longer, I'll probably write about vaginas. Or cookies. Just being honest.
I'm sitting here imagining all the mutual friends we have who would have written the same thing to you, if they could only be near enough.
ReplyDeleteAnd you too, Pleased. I'm lucky to have those friends and you too in my life.
Delete<3
ReplyDeleteSo true. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'm glad we're friends! :)
I'm glad we are too. I hope we can tell each other that in person someday.
DeleteWouldn't that be fun? I think it will happen.
DeleteI'm sure of it.
DeleteSome people can be so rude. How much more effort does it take to be nice? Just saying. Geez
ReplyDeleteKathy
http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com
None at all. In fact, for me it takes more effort to be mean because I have to roll it over in my head a lot and maybe check back to see if I hit the mark. It's just as unpleasant for me as it is for my victim.
ReplyDelete