In My In Box

Monday, Nov. 03, 2003 - 7:14 a.m.

Okay. It's that time of year.

Please send me dried and/or cleaned, bugfree moldfree walnut leaves. I love the smell of dried walnut leaves, but there don't seem to be any near where I live here in San Francisco.

---

Yesterday afternoon, I received an email from the person who used to star in this Diaryland post. It said "Please remove my name from your website." If you go there and read it, I think you can see why he wanted it removed.

I honored his request for several reasons. He's basically a good guy, and he works with Cheri, and he's getting married pretty soon and I was just this side of being in the mood to cut him a break.

But now, dear readers, I'm asking you. Did I do the right thing? Or should I have let it stand?

I can live with what I did. However, as usual, I'm now interested in what you have to say. Leave an opinion in the comments section please.

---

I also got one of those forwarded emails from my father-in-law, a retired fire captain. Here's what it said:

FORWARD THIS IF YOU DON'T FORWARD ANYTHING ELSE .....
...and, if we get any mail with this stamp on it
we will put "return to sender" and will not accept it!
USPS New Stamp
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center
in 1993!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in
Lebanon!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks
in Saudi Arabia!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies
in Africa!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE! REMEMBER
the MUSLIM attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001!
REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in
those vicious MUSLIM attacks!
Now the United States Postal Service
REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season
with a commemorative first class holiday postage
stamp.
REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp
when purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use
this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those
AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this
stamp honors.
REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic
AMERICAN you know.

---

Here is what I wrote back to him.

---

Dear Dad,

Regarding the 'Boycott the Eid' stamp email you sent me a couple of days ago...If I understand you correctly, what you seem to have forwarded to me is an email stating your intention to boycott any piece of mail you receive with the commemorative Eid stamp affixed.

I am by no means a pacifist, by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a registered Republican, and with the exception of the 1984 presidential election when I was flat on my back with pleural pneumonia, I've voted in every election in which I've been eligible to participate. And I love and respect you in ways for which I still have not found words. :)

But this forwarded email from you has compelled me to say something.

I believe that judgement of an entire culture could not come at a worse possible time in the history of this country, and I'm afraid with this forwarded email, we got swept up in a wave of patriotism that also included a nice big dose of Let's Tar Everybody With The Same Brush. Hatred of somebody just because of their religion is what that sectarian group of Muslim extremists is guilty of themselves. That's what caused all of the violence in the first place. And anybody who is an expert in the words of the Koran has repeatedly stated that the Islamic Jihadists who performed these acts of war against our nation are not practicing traditional Muslim teachings -at all.-

I am certain with all my heart that you cannot possibly mean to be saying that all Muslims are part of the sectarian violence that has been committed against American citizens. Because if you are, that means you are condemning a religious order of two billion people.

And that's just not something you could do.

---

So we'll see what sort of response I get.

---

UPDATE: It's now late in the afternoon. I received a response! I'll post it tomorrow.

---

And finally, in honor of the profession of my late father and of my brother -- Dear teachers: Good luck with all of the cranky, sugar-crashed children you're forced to deal with today. :-P

---

what you missed - what's next - leave a note
first post - cast page - diaryrings - top ten

THE LEGAL STUFF: All content on this site that was created by me is copyright 2003-infinity by Brin Marie McLaughlin. Steal my stuff and I'll squash you like a bug. All incoming email or any other form of communication with me is subject to publication or other distribution by me in whole or in part at my sole discretion. This diary features the sole opinions and experiences of one person, namely me, the person who is paying for this space. In the interest of safety and accountability, no anonymous input will ever be allowed here, ever, for any reason in the entire history of ever. Whenever there is a comments section appearing in this diary, it's to be considered part of my paid presence on the web, and shall be used by my readership to supplement the things I have written here with relevant information in a polite manner. Comments that do not fall in that category are subject to deletion at my whim. Your visit to my diary along with your use of my comments section constitutes the understanding of this statement. Anything else on these pages including any comments belongs to whoever created it. All external links are current as of the date of the entry in which they are first featured, but at no other time. News excerpts used here are for educational purposes and are permitted under the Fair Use Doctrine. Hold hands when you cross the street, and play nice.