I just want to smack people sometimes. I won't. I don't. But sometimes I sure want to. At the bottom of the CrizCats post about Panther, I found this...

So, I hope no one else will jump into any other conclusions without understanding the actual situation and stresses both of us are having now. Thanks anyway for the wishes and it showed that all of you really care for the welfare of another living creature. :)

It bout made me cry and then made me want to smack whoever was jumping to conclusions. And I haven't even read the comments yet. I might not. I don't need to read them to be pretty darned sure some did jump to conclusions that hurt the people trying to help Panther, and probably some were not particularly nice about the whole thing. Giving well-meant advice is one thing, and that seldom causes problems. But I've seen what people have said about Teacup and other injured kitties over the past couple of years. I've gotten sobbing emails and calls from people who are just trying to help cats and get hit with the narrowminded or mean things that are said to them in comments. It just makes me want to hiss and spit and smack when people are mean and narrow-minded. Didn't these people's mothers teach them that if they don't have anything nice or good to say to shut up? Well apparently they still need to learn now.

I often don't agree with the way people take care of their cats or the ones who land in their care by accident of fate. No doubt there are people who don't agree with the way I take care of mine. But from what I've seen around the cat blogosphere folks is that people are all doing the best that they can from their hearts. People will never all agree. That's just life. But as long as people are doing their best from the heart, it doesn't make any sense at all to be mean and bitchy and cruel to them on their own blog.

You can't change anyone's mind or heart by being nasty. You might change their heart or mind by being kind in presenting your perspective, though. It's everyone's choice, be rude and blow hot air at people, or try to do some good in the world. We all get to choose that every minute of our lives. Sometimes we pick the best thing, other times we don't. That's human. But it's always a choice. It makes the best sense to me to choose to do the best I can, shut up when it's the best I can find to do, and apologize when I blow it. You choose what you will do, that's your right as a human.

Yes, I'm blowing off steam here in this post. At the moment it's the best I can do for all concerned. I get to blow off my anger, and just maybe, if I'm very lucky, someone else will find something useful in it all. If not, well, I'm doing it in my sandbox that no one ever has to visit it at all. I think that's much better than getting into a flame war on someone else's blog that has no use to anyone and just makes me more angry rather than less. And if anyone doesn't like what's going on in my sandbox, they can go to google or yahoo or anywhere else and find a place they do like. We're all free to choose what blogs we visit too.

Kudos to the CrizCats folks for handling the meanness so nicely in spite of all the stress they're in.

*sigh*
Robyn

Labels: blogjacked by the Mom