We can't all be friends.

I roll my eyes when I see those "coexist" bumper stickers with all the religious symbols. It's been my experience with a few people I've worked with or been in groups with at school who wear those stickers on their cars that they are actually fairly intolerant of Christianity. As kumbayah as it sounds, reality is that we can't all coexist in harmony. Sure we can tolerate other religions and beliefs, but we don't have to agree with their differences or like their differences - and I don't think tolerance equals harmony.

The other day at my mom's group, I was chatting with a friend near the coffee cart. I had just refilled my paper cup with hot coffee. As we were chatting, another gal squeezed between us to throw something in the trash, so I backed up to give her space. I didn't see the door jam was so close to me, and I ended up bumping into the door jam and coffee spilled out of my cup and all over my hand and the arm of the gal throwing something away. We both jumped in pain. I felt horrible, it was totally an accident but I felt terrible for inflicting pain on this gal I hardly knew. I apologized profusely and checked in with her later on in the meeting to see if she was OK. The next day we were both at another event where wine was being served. I walked over to her and jokingly said, "I'll try not to spill wine on you today." She gave me a blank look. I reminded her of the coffee incident the day before and she was like, "Oh yeah, right." Clearly she didn't appreciate or get my sense of humor. She then stuck her hand out and said, "I don't think we've ever really formally met. I'm -----, your name is Stephanie, right?" I tried not to laugh out loud since my name sounds nothing like Stephanie. I told her my name and we shook hands, then parted ways. We never ended up chatting again at that social event. Odds are, we probably won't become good friends. That's OK, I probably would be leery of someone who spilled hot coffee on me too.

This morning when I saw an anonymous comment on my blog, my first reaction was to delete it. Then I thought about privatizing or deleting my blog. But wait - it's MY blog. My thoughts, my opinions, my story. I feel like I'm fairly honest and I don't think I paint a picture of myself as someone perfect or totally together all the time - I know I am a flawed person. Someone reads my blog and sees a small piece of who I am and doesn't like me? That's OK. That person seemed pretty hate filled in their little rant about me. I realize that they took several things out of context (I don't feel like I brag about my educational path or car) nor do I think I'm better than others. I definitely don't think Canadians suck since my husband is Canadian. I have a dry sense of humor, and not all people get that or appreciate that (I don't like sarcastic humor). I'm not even going to start picking apart the comment to defend myself, because I find the accusations in their comment to be so far from the truth of who I am and how I feel. I don't read a ton of blogs, but occasionally I come across one where I find things the person says or does to be annoying, but I just close it or find something else to read - it's not my style to hide behind a keyboard and spew out mean spirited comments on their blog. Putting your words, your life and your story out in the public domain does mean it opens the door for criticism; not everyone follows the mantra "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." One of my favorite radio hosts has often said that if you want to see the darkest side of humanity, read the anonymous comments on any controversial article or story online. There is definitely truth to that.

I've reset the comment function so that anonymous comments cannot be left any longer. Hey anonymous, you want to keep reading? That's your choice but obviously you dislike me so much that I would think it would be a waste of your time to read about little old me. But if you do read on and want to point out what you don't like about me, next time you'll need to at least tell me who you are.

Happy Friday, friends (and non-friends)! :-)