I hope my loyal commentators do not take this the wrong way, but I get more than a little jazzed when someone I do not personally know comments on the blog. Of course, each and every comment is precious to me … it’s just that some are *more* precious than others.

Heh. I kid. Still, it is super cool to know that people—people who are not in some way contractually obligated to like me—are interested in what I have to say about anything.

The other day I received just such a comment from a random, unknown reader, but what began as excitement turned into, um … hmm … you’ll see:

you know u sound like a psycho selfcenterd person by this blog and i feel durasticaly sorry for u maybe you should appologize to your dad for being such a bitch cause u know if u were my daughter id spank your bare botom ass with a wooden paddle even tho im not that old not the point u are too dam privlaged and concieded

I believe wholeheartedly that it’s only proper to take the bad with the good and only fair to share everyone’s opinion of the blog (and I guess, by extension, me), so I’m not about to bury the comment. I post it *here* for two reasons:

• it was added to a page that should have never been set up to allow comments and
• I want to be sure that the comment (and my reply) receive ample viewing.

Now, you might expect me to respond with something sarcastic, caustic or downright cruel even, and I admit, the thought did cross my mind. (Believe you me, I can be cutting when I put my mind to it.) But, I dunno, parts of the comment rang true to me, and I began to wonder what an honest sincere response might look like. So, here goes nothing.

Dear Chris,

Thanks for taking the time to post a comment on my blog. At first, I found your words to be, ya know, kind of hurtful. I don’t know if that was your intent. Anyway, after the initial sting faded, I reminded myself that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and—if I’m honest with myself—yours can’t even be said to be a highly unusual (or invalid) one.

Having a personal blog *is* pretty self-centered. There are times when I escape into it (and into my own head) and, as a result, neglect some of my real-world responsibilities … to myself, my friends and family, my two dogs, my community. I’m workin on that.

Also, you’re right … I am ridiculously privileged. Having the time, the means and the freedom to write a blog about any old thing I choose is not something to be taken for granted. (Neither is having the time, the means and the freedom to read blogs, I might add.) I’m privileged in a million other ways too. I prolly don’t acknowledge that as much as I could.

The conceited thing I would have to disagree with you on, but I can see how you might get that impression from a cursory read of my posts. See it’s kind of a long story and goes along with the psycho thing, which (depending on your definition of psycho) I wouldn’t argue with a whole lot. See, I’m guessing by “psycho” you mean neurotic and a little unstable, not sociopathic. If that’s true, then sure, I’m a little psycho … it is called *Crazy* Monkey Gurls, after all. :-) So, anyway, what you see as conceit is just a defense mechanism … grant you, a thinly veiled and not entirely effective one, but still. There it is.

The last point I want to address is what you said about spanking your daughter … or me, if I was your daughter. I’ll save my diatribe about corporal punishment for another day, but you should know I was spanked as a girl … bare-assed with a hand or a belt or a wooden paddle. Since I think it’s fair to say you don’t want your daughters to grow up like me, I suggest you do not spank them (or your sons either, for that matter).

In fact, I have a few suggestions for you that may help ensure your kids grow up to be very un-me-like: pay lots and lots of attention to them, smile at them for no reason, listen to them when they have something to say, hug them when they cry, leave the closet light on when they’re scared, tell them to try again because you know they can do it, ask them what they think about stuff and, again, don’t ever touch them in a way that causes pain.

Thanks again for the comment. Hope you keep reading.
Kiki