Being a Bitch

The more I blog about creating peace, the bitchier I am. There's an irony there that doesn't make sense to me.

Part of the reason I am that way is because as I start writing about these things, I think if I let that go, then what sort of precendent am I setting? Do I feel better ignoring that wrong? So I speak up. I try not to be nasty, though insurance companies get to me, but I definitely stand up for myself.

A woman on mailing list about a hobby was sending out a bunch of rather divisive, and to my mind, hate filled emails about what happened in New Orleans. I sent back a note that said I didn't appreciate getting such hate filled email and that I didn't think our mailing list was an appropriate place for this sort of discussion. She emailed back that it wasn't hate filled as the man who wrote the original content was a reverend. I snapped back that Pat Robertson was supposed to be a man of "God" as well but that didn't stop him from calling for the assassination of the President of Venuzuela. Please stop sending the email.

She has not responded. I felt badly about that, as if I had acted badly, though I am really just trying to stand up for stuff. I have come to the conclusion that I am tired of not saying something about things that aren't working, that aren't fair and are hateful. I have decided that if it's in my community and under my nose, letting such actions go will only allow such actions to go on in the wider community. If I do my best to say this isn't okay in my local area, then perhaps on a wider scale it will become less and less acceptable.

It's a bit outside myself but in the long run I am no longer swalling hate and then hatred at my powerlessness for not standing up and doing something.