Dear Mean Girl

When I started blogging faithfully nearly a year ago, I was an innocent. It was scary to put myself out there and write about myself, people, ideas and a myriad of other things in a forum in which the Whole Wide World could see it. But, after being slow to take to it, I took the plunge and went for the whole enchaladia. Anything was fair game!

It has been a joy to write and share with so many of you: the two Brendas, the two Tonias, Suzanne, Jane (I miss your blog!), Karyn, Sandy, and a whole host of others who comment on my blog. I read yours and feel a kindred spirit with those I will most likely never meet. Here are people who are trying to do and be good, kind, loving, and, most of all, civil in a world, quite frankly, that is usually far from it!


Yet, from time to time, there is a toad in the garden, someone who delights in attacking you in an email or sending your readers emails with unkind comments or even will, sigh, post something unkind about you. They will even go so far as, rather tragically that this is the substance of their life, go through the blog comments and carefully delete theirs to make a rather pitiful example of just how much they don't agree with you. Have you no life? Nothing that is more meaningful?


In high school we called them the "Mean Girls." These were the "girls" who were spiteful, mean spirited, and relished in causing others hurt. They rode on the coat tails of others more successful or popular. They were the "girls" you hated to see, but knew you had to be nice to or you would be seeing your name in the bathroom stalls. These were the girls who appeared to have it all, but in reality had little substance. They had little except their petty meanness.


Why, you ask, am I commenting on this today? Well, I just discovered another lovely blog that is going private after a very mean attack by a cyber bully, a "mean girl." And this seems to be paramount on the web. The Yarn Harlot has mentioned more than once the snarky things posted on her blog and the stalking that has occurred. Nie Nie's dialogues has had more than one post about the same thing. And, I have had emails, off blog, about similar incidents. My goodness, have people gotten so insecure that they have to attack complete strangers? You know, no one forces you to read a blog, so why be so angry, so mean, so vindicative?


And so, Mean Girl, I pity you. If the sum and substance of your life is jumping from blog to blog and attacking, hurting, demeaning, and rumormonger, you need a lot of grace. You need a lot of prayer. And, you need a lot of kindness. You are in my prayers.