Ch-ch-ch-Changes…

I’m beginning to think that I come from a different time, and it’s making me very sad.

I come from a time and place where people who were not enemies behaved in a civil manner. They might not have been friends. They might only have been acquaintances. But they did not behave viciously towards one another.

This, however, is no longer the case.

About a month ago, I made a mistake. I gave the link to My Side to someone I didn’t know very well. I thought I knew him but it has turned out I was very wrong. So, when I wrote about things in the news that bothered me, this person decided to respond by insulting me. And I know what this is about. People who believe in evil are very insulted when that evil is questioned and can only insult back. They don’t feel the need to engage in friendly debate; they can only be rude.

And so, today, I wrote a blog about the injustices that I believed were wrong. I believe torture is so wrong that it is an issue beyond debate. It’s like child abuse; no rational person would argue in favor. But this person decided to answer my sincere concerns by calling me a hypocrite. He said that other countries do wrong things, so we must be allowed the same privilege. I believe nothing could be further from the truth. I believe that, as Americans, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard. Our actions should reflect the best of our ideals, not the worst of our weaknesses. He inferred that I was just as bad because I bought products that might have caused harm in some way or another to someone. In this, he’s probably right. But he misses two very obvious points – points which, yet again, I don’t believe I should need to reiterate for his benefit. I will now as example. First, this does not make torture right. Second, the ideal is to do as little harm as possible. It is impossible to do absolutely no harm.

His comments don’t just disgust me. They make me very sad because they show what has become of the time from which I come. It’s one thing to debate an issue in a civilized manner but another thing entirely to cast aspersions.

It was never the intent of this site to engage in petty name calling or flaming. The intent of this site was, in addition to keeping you informed as to the events in my life, to inform and, perhaps, engage in some discussion. But this person’s constant insults are so offensive to me that I’m now debating taking the site down all together, that is how tainted he has made this feel. In a world where some find common decency and tolerance unacceptable, I would rather not allow such indecency and intolerance.

For now, I’m going to take down the comments on this site. Some sites get spammed with ads. Mine has been spammed with despite. And this makes me very sad.

As always, you can email me at the link on top if you’d like to keep in touch. Many of you reading this also have my home address and phone number. I am always interested in talking about the events transpiring in your lives and in this country.