Tuesday, June 1, 2010

HURTFUL WORDS


So I've had to take some time off from my writing due to many things, but I am back again. And I have a topic that I must discuss ~ Hurtful Words.

On a beautiful Sunday morning I opened my email as my children watched cartoons and my husband made breakfast. I read through my friend's updates and deleted some junkmail, leaving one email sender with a name I did not know. And when I read the letter, it was filled with insults against me, my husband and my writing career. It was filled with hurtful words.

Now I do have a degree in psychology, so instead of reading this person's mean words and taking it inward, I dissected it. I wondered, why someone would take the time to send such a letter, oh, did I mention they made up a fake gmail account so I would not know who it was? I wondered what type of life this person must have and I felt sorry for them.

My first urge was to write back, dismiss the incorrect things they wrote and correct them. But then I thought it could be some crazy person wanting to egg me on too. So what to do? In the end I decided to ignore the email - delete it entirely from my folders.

But I kept on wondering about the person. And why someone would write such things to another person. What they hoped to gain? A teacher once told me that the amount of anger someone carries is directly related to the amount of hurt they are feeling. I am sorry that this person is hurting. And I wonder what can be done to help them?

When someone hurts us, either by ignoring, fighting, cutting us off in traffic, the flip of the finger, angry emails/letters, talking behind our backs, it ultimately means they are hurting in some way.

So let it go. Relax. Remember who you are.

~Angie Azur