Nastiness

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good people do bad things? Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?

These are some of life’s unanswerable questions.

My daughter says that there are four types of people in the world: people who are nice, people who are smart, people who are dumb, and people who are mean. We saw a very scary, graphic movie, and after sitting for two hours, it was enormously difficult for me to stand. The aisle had a slant, which made it more difficult. The disturbing film also freaked me out. I stood, but despite Abby’s best effort, I fell back into the seat, whacking my back into the armrest. As my daughter helped me to my feet and guided me out of the theater, we noticed people around us staring. A few of them snickered. One person chortled. Most people do not fall into the fourth category above. They didn’t laugh and stare because they were mean. They laughed and stared because they thought I was drunk. They weren’t mean; they were dumb. It was the end of a two-hour movie, I was with a child, and it was the middle of the day. While it was not outside the realm of possibility that someone could be that staggeringly drunk, it was outside the realm of common sense. My daughter was having difficulty helping me, and I was injured; yet no one came to our aid .

Here’s another example: you decide which category they fall into. My book, When Life Throws You Lemons…Make  Cranberry  Juice! has a Facebook page and I recently posted that my book is for sale through the book’s website. I can sell the books that I have in stock for a much lower price than my publisher is offering. Anyway, one of my “fans” wrote, “I DON’T WANT TO BUY YOUR BOOK! GO AWAY!” this person is a grandmother and one of her favorite sayings is “what goes around comes around.”

I replied to her comment in a professional tone, explaining that there was no need for her to be nasty- she could easily remove herself from my page. I blocked all Facebook contact with her, in an effort to delete disrespectful people from my life.

I’ve decided to do that in real life too. I will not accept nastiness as a method of communication-whether it’s the grocery clerk, the pest-control guy or my mechanic (who I love, by the way).

Let’s have a vote: which category does the Facebook Lady fall in to?