Boxing with Babies- There Really is no Sport to it

I used to watch the West Wing every week. It was my favorite show for a couple of years. There was one episode where Josh (played by Bradley Whitford) caught site of a website dedicated to him. As he was reading it, his assistant Donna warned him to stay away from the chat rooms because they were filled with crazy people. He, of course, ignored her and ended up sending a post. The rest of that episode is about him not understanding the heated responses he receives from his post and basically confirming that Donna was right all along.

I tell you this brilliant story because I also have to agree with Donna. People in chat rooms are crazy. I got sucked into one last night. I have no excuses for my behavior. I was mad and upset and spoiling for a fight. So I picked one. The blog I wrote yesterday about the band I like so much? I posted it on their fan site. Yeah, yeah, I know it was probably not such a great idea. Like I said, I really don’t have a good excuse. So I just sat back and waited. It didn’t take long at all really…

I have to believe that the poor girl I shred to pieces over the next couple of hours was in her early 20’s, if that. She was clearly upset over an earlier post (not mine) and came in guns ablazin’ armed with her Caps Lock, emoticons, and her exclamation points. No sign of spell check at all. Even though I wasn’t the main target, she did make references to my post, and that was all I needed. I took a lot of pleasure in purposely misunderstanding her and twisting her words back on her. In fact, it was a little disturbing how much fun I had sharpening my tongue with her. Shameful! I didn’t resort to name calling, but I did offer her some pointers on her posting techniques as well as pointing out all the holes in her arguments. Is it wrong to feel secretly proud of all the sarcastic zingers I hit her with? (It would have been better if she had understood them.) Each time I sent a response I told myself to quit picking on a little girl. And each time she would come back with some sort of lame defense and try to take another shot at me. It was amusing, but it got old. (Sigh) I have nieces that are probably close to her age. I feel like I should call them and apologize. People in chat rooms are crazy, and I was probably the worst offender last night.

This morning I checked the site out again and she had sent me a private email. She was really upset now, but more in a bewildered, wounded sort of way and not in a hysterical rant like last night. Feeling like I had just told her there was no Santa, I made nice and told her we would just have to agree to disagree. I also apologized to her for purposely going after her. And then I couldn’t resist pointing out to her the perspectives she was still refusing to see (not agree with) and why I bothered to respond to her in the first place. I saw she responded back to me this afternoon, also apparently a little more clear-headed. She used full sentences and everything! Not only did she finally agree that she could have expressed herself a little better, but she even wished me and mine a safe and happy summer. Awww! We are looking forward to being lifelong friends and have agreed to exchange Christmas cards and cookie recipes from now on.

Snickerdoodle!!!