The First Letter
I had never given much thought to what the price I might pay for my liberal activism. It all began with a letter to the editor of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal. You can read the letter and associated comments at the following link....
Spare Hasan the Death Penalty
The Second Letter
When the letter was published, I was discouraged by the tenor of the comments.
That fact had me somewhat down when I went to Literacy Lubbock to help with the GED math class I do for volunteer work.
When I walked in the door, my associate tutor ask me,
"Have you been assaulted yet?"
"Assaulted?" I responded.
"Yes, assaulted."
"Oh, the letter, no, I have not been assaulted. I am not worried."
The conversation went on from there and I was able to draw the conclusion that things had changed between me and my associate, a man I had considered a friend. I plowed on, ignoring his little barbs, spouting platitudes like "Cowards die a thousand deaths, the valiant die but one."
Much later the head of the organization commented on my letter while indicating she did not think it too controversial. She said it was logical, almost mathematical.
After the class, I eventually went over to my girlfriend's house where she was alarmed at my boldness in the letter. She had read the comments and made the statement, "you will need a Kevlar vest to walk around Lubbock." I thought to myself she was overreacting. Additionally, this wasn't my first dance with these jerks who are mostly blowhards. It was when she said, I was a "bad guy" or outlaw, that lifted my brow. Shortly, thereafter she said, "Don't write any more letters to the editor." That was the wrong thing to say to me. I fumed a bit and said loudly, "I refuse to live like a coward." I tried to rekindle our attraction but she backed away from me. I went home. I have called her a couple of times but it is getting clear to me she is not happy with me. I hate to lose a relationship of nine months, but given time to think, I realized I did not know her as well as I had thought. She is pretty hidden about what her political views are. She does not have to agree with me, but she does have to support me.
When I went to church, today. Earlier in the week I had received a call from the church president saying they did not support my call for clemency for Hasan. Probably, the one thing that worried me most was I received no congratulations on my letter from anyone at church. I usually got some accolades.
Well, the other shoe hit the floor tonight. She broke up with me. She vehemently denies it was my writings. Not sure I believe her but I will let it be. It was all very public on Facebook and relatively civilized. How a woman goes from loving you madly one week to casting you out the next always dazzles me. I'm sure there is something happening here I do not understand.
I finally got to see my girlfriend though I think I may be fooled by how it went. We hugged, we kissed and I told her I would call her everyday until she was ready for me to come back. I have done this.
I got my first piece and so far only piece of hate mail the day before Thanksgiving.
It was signed. Either the guy was dumb enough to use his real name or someone is guilty of identity theft. Anyhow I contacted a postal inspector and he did not seem to think it was threatening enough to be considered for investigation by him, but he had me email it to him because he said the Secret Service might be interested. I still have the original mail in a plastic bag ready to hand over to the Secret Service. So far nobody has ask for it. I suppose I will have to be satisfied with the image in my mind of a wingnut getting an embarrassing, uncomfortable visit from the Secret Service. We take what we can get.
My girlfriend and I are speaking and hopefully we will restore full relations.
While I had the flu, the associate who gave me static sent me a get well card which I thought was nice and an indication he may no be as mad at me as he was.
It seems the sea of opinion about my letter to the editor is calming somewhat.
I realize what happened to me was pretty much a tempest in a teapot compared to the real difficulty encountered by the other people on DKOS who express their unpopular opinions, but I learned some things.