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I rarely curse anyone, but have done so twice in one week. The first time was when I saw a man picking a bouquet of flowers in a public park. The second time was twenty minutes ago when I cursed Heidi, the medical office manager who lied to me last month about my insurance company and the federal government requiring her to collect mine and Peggy’s Social Security numbers (I refused to give them, so she had me pay upfront for an appointment I had waited two months for). I can think of a few downsides to cursing people, but the one I find most influential is that, if they have the power to thwart me, they might be more likely to use it. This didn’t apply to the thief or to Heidi. As I told Heidi, I would be delighted if she didn’t refund my money because I would love to haul her lying ass into court. If there were a hell, it would almost be worth going there just to see some people I know getting what they so richly deserve. Of course, if Tertullian was right, one of the things that makes heaven heavenly is that "the saved" get to gaze into the fiery pit at souls writhing in agony.
The painting is Paul Gauguin's “Eve—Don't Listen to the Liar"
20 comments:
One of our cats used to say mung, MUNG, MUNG when displeased and mostly I too just mutter under my breath. But sometimes it just isn't enough. And both of the people you snarled at sound to have richly deserved it.
Yes, they deserved it. It reminds me of the folks here in LA from "other cultures who are the reason many of our parks no longer have doves or ducks... they've eaten them all! I do hope you get your money back from Heidi.
so i shouldnt get flowers from the park, then?
I think Heidi had this coming, and it will do her good to know that not everybody will happily give up their ssn. But I bet your reaction hit her pretty hard. I bet she is still bothered by it, and is thinking about it. I wonder if she will still be there next time. I wonder if she has now brought this issue up at a staff meeting, maybe gotten the policy altered. In this case you certainly did a good deed for the rest of us by speaking up.
Before he was an artist, Paul Gauguin was a stockbroker. Ever the optimist, I believe most people have the potential to improve. So there is always hope for Heidi.
Snow, You hit a pet peeve near the top of my list . I volunteer to keep my local park looking it's best and am so disgusted when I see people picking the flowers (especially tulips because they won't bloom again until the next year). I am also known as the volunteer that will do my best to protect the wildlife that lives there. It is amazing to me that parents will stand by while their children throw rocks at the ducks and geese. Just sayin'.
well...suppose none of us are perfect are we...
Good for you, Snow. I hope it made you feel better and the two people in question feel like crap, as they so richly deserved. People are so seldom called on the inappropriate things they do.
Love your principles, Snowybabe.
I wish i could see you in action. :)
Thanks, everyone. I've never posted anything so soon after I wrote it, and I want you to know how precious your validations were. I said to the both the thief and to the liar what I thought needed saying, and I have no regrets.
Ellen said: "I think we should all confront all lying bastards everywhere."
I respect that. One advantage of doing so as a matter of course is that it would serve as good training for those times when it matters most. I promise you that I'll never hold my tongue in a situation in which someone is telling an outrageous lie, and everyone else is staying quiet because they don't want to be blamed for creating unpleasantness. That's the kind of situation sexually abused children often get into, you know. When they finally tell people that they're being abused, instead of being praised for bringing the whole sorry mess out into the open so that they might finally be shown some consideration and respect, they're blamed for disrupting the peace, implying that a great many people are okay with horrible people doing horrible things, but they're not okay with horrible people's victims calling them to task for it.
Kylie said: "so i shouldnt get flowers from the park, then?"
No, babe, you should steal them from the cemetery because cemetery flowers have already been professionally cut and arranged. Honesty, Kylie, do I have to tell you everything? Did you flunk Thievery 101 or something?
Chrisy said: "well...suppose none of us are perfect are we..."
I don't get your point, Christy. Are you saying that no one should stand up to wrongdoers unless he himself is perfect?
KC said: "I volunteer to keep my local park looking it's best and am so disgusted when I see people picking the flowers..."
In this case, I was the one who planted the flowers--crocuses, daffodils, and tulips. Now, I get so bummed watching person after person picking them, literally everyday, that I'm seriously tempted to go over there and mow them all down.
Natalie said: "I wish i could see you in action. :)"
Well, what I lack in style and presentation, I make up for in fury.
RNSane said: "I hope it made you feel better and the two people in question feel like crap..."
If they are basically decent people, maybe they will, but I didn't see any evidence of decency, so I don't hold out much hope. When things change, it's usually because enough people object to the way they now are rather than because the malefactors saw the light.
Something I wonder about, Snowbrush, since you can't say "God damn you to hell", what do you say to curse someone? There is the Mother's curse "May you have children just like you were" but it doesn't apply. The "fleas of a thousand camels" is overdone.
Fodder said: "since you can't say "God damn you to hell"
So, you're thinking that that particular oath should be left to Christians? That's fine with me, but, honestly, are you--through clean living and all--bereft of swear words of something? I could rattle off a few paragraphs of them for you, but, gosh darn, I would like for you to meet me halfway here, so I would suggest that you make a list of all the nasty words you know, and get back to me with them, at which time we'll work together to combine them in creative and interesting ways.
snow i seem to have become unemployed and i cant ask you to pray for me so maybe you can curse the bastards.
if my assessment is wrong and i still have a job they still need to be cursed!
like natalie, i wish i could see you in action but i'm not sure the action i wanna see is the same
I know lots of swear words, even a few in Russian, but swearing at someone is different from cursing them, isn't it? Or is that just my Irish antecedents coming out on St Patrick's Day.
I was raised to believe -- and I still do -- that profanity-laced speech is a sign of a very poor vocabulary.
My motto: "I never swear, but wear I spit, grass never grows again."
While I'm definitely not shy, I am very hesitant about confronting people. But both liars and thieves annoy me to my core, so I would have been right there with you, cursing up a storm (and I can swear like a pirate, sir.)
I get frustrated because I think most liars and thieves are just people who have fallen into a habit, rather than pure evil asswipes. If you keep stealing and no one confronts you, you'll steal more. If you keep lying and no one confronts you, you'll lie more. It's good to stand up to these characters if only so that maybe they'll pause before they do it again with their next breath.
How frustrating. I'm glad you're brave enough (or mad enough) to give 'em hell, Snow.
When you said you cursed them, Snow, I envisioned a cauldron, you hunched over, leafing through your 101 Curses Book. I admire your courage. I wish I was not such a rabbit about these kinds of things. I am wondering why the flower picker bothers me more than Heidi. I will ponder this. :)
London tabloids are presently full of the story that 2 little girls were cuffed and into the slammer for picking daffodils in a park.
To aggrieved tulip nurturers everywhere, may I soothe you by suggesting that the vandals oblivious to The General Good, are reaching for beauty, and it is sad to see that ugly people still want to do this.
They can't make it themselves, but they need it. poor things.
I agree with comment by Ellen above that liars and misinformers should be exposed - I wish those wanting to harm J.Assange could see that.
Nuclear*reactor secrets are not good and now we are all at risk because of them.
Cursing is cathartic and restorative, so curse on but with peace and love.
I have substituted most swearing with 'ye gads' 'gadzooks!', 'zoons' etc, however I'm not adverse to a good old 'shite!' or 'you twat' muttered menacingly at some folks. If they get that, they really do deserve it.
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