An open letter to those who hate me

September 13, 2000 Dear Traveller, Thank you for stopping by and freely roaming my site. I trust you have found some information here handy. If you have come here to rile yourself up on how much you hate me, why? Why have you invested your valuable time to read something that's only going to upset you? There must be something in your life that you truly enjoy, something you love, someone you want to share your life with. Don't you think your time is better suited to be there, than here? Also, you say you hate me (or my type) - why? Have you ever met me in real life? Have you ever joined me in a trivial conversation about the latest movie? What makes your heart so full of rage that you hate me - and if you hate me so much, why are you here? Why would you want to purposely go somewhere you hate? Would you plan a vacation like that? Perhaps you came here to save my eternal soul. You strongly believe that because of my religion, or the music I like, or the way I raise my son, or perhaps the way I brush my teeth, there's something terribly wrong and you need to fix it. Well, thank you for your concern, but I'm a big girl now and I can take care of myself. But wait!, you say. You say your religion is The Way and I need to not only acknowledge it but believe it as well, but how do you know for sure what you're telling me is true? Because you say it's in a book, or because the person who instructed you is quite believable. A combination of both? Because millions of people agree with you? That's all fine and good, but I have my own beliefs, thank you :) I'm going by what my gut tells me, and what a wonderful ride through life it's been. Who knows, maybe there really is no afterlife; that we are all destined to become fertilizer. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see. Oh, you say, but none of those reasons are why you hate me. Then what is it then? Is it because of the fact I disagreed with you on something? To that I say, you need to get over yourself. If you want to encircle yourself with "yes men", by all means go for it. But will that enrich your life, to always be told you're right? To me, that seems pretty dull. Perhaps you hate me because I refuse to hate others the same way you do; I'm not racist, or a man-hating feminist, or what have you. Therefore, you think I'm the Devil Incarnate and should be squashed. To that I say a huge *whatever* to, and shrug you off. I don't need your negativity in my life. Finally, you hate me so much because of how I do things. Well far be it from me to argue. I hate the way I do things sometimes as well. I hate the way I don't always stand up for myself. I hate the fact that I procrastinate too much. I hate the fact that I have to go to work and spend less and less time with my only child. I hate the fact that I'm forced to live in an apartment because our credit won't allow us to have our own home. I hate the fact that there's people like you who hate others over such pettiness. Have a nice day.