Hello everybody. I've got a lot to get to this week, especially in light of what's been going on since I posted the last Random Thoughts blog. So with that in mind, let's get to it. Enjoy.
- I called this the "gauntlet" edition not just because of what's been going on recently, but for me what has been generally what I feel like I've been going through for some time now. In an article I read recently, it gave an actual dictionary-style definition of what the word gauntlet meant, which I will provide here:
1. a. A form of punishment in which people armed with sticks or other weapons arrange themselves in two lines facing each other and beat the person forced to run between them.
b. The lines of people so arranged.
2. An onslaught or attack from all sides.
3. A severe trial; an ordeal.
To be honest, I've felt like I've been going though several of them, especially when it comes to financial and vocational issues, but I think everybody can see themselves in one way or another going through something resembling one. I'm not surprised if there are people out there that believe their entire life has been nothing but one long-running gauntlet. Believe me, in the past week I felt like I've been through one.
- As you can tell, I'm putting up my Random Thoughts earlier than usual for two reasons. One, to address things related to a blurb in last week's blog, and two, because tomorrow is a holiday and I might be pretty busy throughout the day itself talking to family. It'll be back on its regular scheduled day next time.
- Last week I put a blurb in my blog that raised some eyebrows...no, not the Chuck Norris jokes, but the thing about singles, couples, planning events, consideration about who should be invited to certain things...that stuff. It got a lot of looks, the most I have had for any one blog I've written on Myspace. Comments were made specifically about that blurb that appeared critical and harsh (not my words here), so I want to address the commenters specifically about what they said and, more importantly, where I'm coming from on this. Now, I'm only doing this publicly because it's likely that there are people out there who haven't responded that may be coming from the same place the commenters seemed to and I don't want to forget acknowledging those folks. Also, if it sounds like I'm walking back some things I said to some of you commenters privately, that may be happening to a varying degree. With that in mind, here's my response:
To the commenters...I know you are taking this really personal here but I think that you guys are reading way too much into what I was trying to get at, inferring feelings attributed to me that you claimed I felt but don't and never stated I did as well as using words from the blurb in a way that showed no reflection of what I was stating. I know that this is not an easy subject to broach, but it is one that is not in any one person's or group's exclusive domain or simply just "family business" as some of you want to put it. It is something that affects everybody....let me repeat that, EVERYBODY...in some way or another whether they are dealing with it now, have dealt with it before, or will deal with it sometime in the future, and that includes you. I feel bad that some of you got hurt by what I wrote and I can't help it if anyone gets offended by what I express. Ultimately, I have no say in what you get out of it. However, I shouldn't have to get "permission" to talk about something that affects so many of us and more. I think that the reason some of you are up in arms about this is because the examples I used that made it seem like I was targeting you. As I tried to explain to some of you privately (apparently, it didn't take when I said it privately), it wasn't necessarily about you and the examples I used were simply used as just that...examples. However, they were really good ones, too good not to pass up here and, evidenced by how much attention it brought especially from you commenters, very relevant.
I wasn't trying to target any specific person or group in particular here. Also, outside of stating the gratefulness I felt for my single, unattached, and non-parental status right now and how I love being considered for trips and being included in planning as well as knowing for certain that the people around me like being considered for the great things I plan (straight from the blog...almost), I never stated anything explicitly about how I felt about this or anybody in particular regarding this matter. I intentionally did both because doing either thing here would have lessened the impact of the viewpoint I was trying to get across, with the potential of missing the point altogether. Given that, I was not offended by any offers made to me by any of my friends or any of the other stuff I was talking about in the blog. I did get upset about that after all these years of some people knowing me and after the fifty plus blogs I've written on Myspace and elsewhere that some of you refused to give me enough of the benefit of the doubt about this. I didn't see any scrutiny reflected in the comments that even questioned why I would put this blurb up in the first place, which if what I said was so different from what I had expressed before I would have expected at least something regarding that, but I got nothing, not even privately which some of you expected me to be about this.
I didn't even make a big thing about writing or promoting the last blog, but it sure got under some of your skins. One person even put up something elsewhere about "true" friendship that may have seemed sorta logical and innoculous on the surface. However, I'm fairly certain it was targeted at me in that it seemed to betray the hurt they felt over what I said and show an intentional spite they felt toward me as a result of being so hurt. Regardless of any positive intention behind the friendship thing or anything similar, ultimately that only leads to people around the hurt person possibly having to start looking over their shoulders and maybe start being overly sensitive around them...that helps nobody. I'm gonna try to avoid that myself here, but it won't be easy.
I could go point-by-point from that blurb over where I was trying to come from (and did so to some degree already here), but that would take forever. One thing I do recommend for those of you troubled by this is something I did suggest to one of the commenters: disconnect the dots that relate to anything you're personally involved in, take me out of the equation entirely, and let the point I was trying to make stand or fall on its own merits. I can handle criticism based on that, but it is difficult to respond to mistaken inferences about me that some of you commenters made without being upset myself. Something my pastor told me in regard to this is something he learned about the Bible. He said that if there was a passage in the Bible that upset the reader somehow, then it may not be so much about what was written, but that it may be a reflection of the person reading it, their views, their desires, their prejudices, etc. I'm not saying that the things I write are anything close to the Bible (that's one pedestal I do NOT want to be on), but sometimes because of the honesty I put into what I write, it can reflect in those who read my blogs in surprising ways both good and bad. I'll be honest, I didn't expect the uproar my last blog got, but like I said before, life rarely is fair.
- Something I should remind people about my blogs is that they are generally by me for me. That means that sometimes I will put things in them that aren't necessarily for anybody else reading a particular item, but for me and maybe me alone. I will likely write it in a manner that reflects something I learned or something I should remind myself of in the future. That controversial blurb from last week? That was one of those things that wasn't just for the readers, but for me, myself, and I. Something from the blurb that I mentioned earlier is the fact that right now I am grateful that I'm single, unattached, and have no kids to worry about. That's not gonna last forever. There will be a time where I will have have a girlfriend or have multiple relationships (Playboy Mansion, here I come!!!), maybe even get married and have kids. I wanted to be able to look back at that blurb and remind myself not to make mistakes from issues regarding what I wrote about and that consideration should be a given from whatever point of view I'm coming from whether it is as a married person, one in a relationship, one who has kids, or still single...whichever viewpoint that may be.
- Okay, let's take a moment here and do some breathing...breathe...breathe....wait a minute! Where's that crying coming from? Is that a baby there? Was a baby just born? Geez, maybe I should take it easy on the breathing stuff...anyway...
- Last week I put in a few jokes about Chuck Norris. Well, I found a website where you can read a bunch of those jokes. The site is http://chucknorrisfacts.com/. You can laugh until you cry like I did when I saw what was put there. Hilarious stuff.
- Speaking of websites, even though I'm still on sabbatical from it, you can still go check out the website for my church Crossroads World Christian Center at http://www.crossroadswcc.org/. If you're looking for a church, consider Crossroads for your spiritual home.
- The swine flu is now an official pandemic, and I hope you guys are ready to deal with it because it has hit the Columbus area in particular with a bit of a vengeance. Don't wanna lose anybody to or suffer from something that came from a Mexican pig farm.
- As a result of some long-term stuff and some of the events from the past week, I am in the process of making some changes, some that are obvious and some that are not, for various reasons. I really don't want to get into it now, but I just wanted to let people know that if things seem different with me for some reason it's because I'm making changes or at least attempting to. Unlike most instances where I'm talking about this, these are mostly small changes but may still be noticeable so I just wanted to give everybody a heads-up on that.
- I am having a devil of a time trying to get my sleep schedule straighened out. If anybody tried to call and I missed them, it was probably because I was konked out. I apologize to those of you affected by that and I will try to get back to you if I haven't already.
- Song on repeat: "Honesty" by Billy Joel. Self-explanatory.
- SLP to the following: Pastor Cory, Dave, Cheryl, Heather (from Facebook), Holly, Ernest, Tommy D, Mike Lianez, and my father (Happy Father's Day).
Before I take off here, I want to wish you fathers out there a happy Father's Day. I've had a pretty rough week, but I hope that everything turns out alright. Until next time, folks. Take care and God Bless.
DJ
