You can tell a lot about a person, from the way they handle dissent

For the past week or two, I have been receiving mass emails encouraging me to protest a redistricting plan in our neighborhood.

It's a plan that I hadn't heard about, but after reading about it (and reading, and reading; these emails just keep coming) I realized pretty quickly that it's actually a piece of redistricting that I wholeheartedly support.

I talked about it with a neighbor, and he agreed with me. Not that he was going to say anything about that to the people spamming the neighborhood...and neither was I, until today.

The last email I received encouraged us all to read a letter to the editor by the same person who has been sending the emails. I read it. The gist was, "Why don't developers ask the community what we want?"

And I realized, not only does this person not know that she's sending emails to someone on the opposite side of the idealogical fence, she also is under the impression that the whole neighborhood agrees with her.

I sent her the following email:

I've been reading your emails
and so I also read your letter to the editor in the
Enterprise.

Not everyone agrees that development is a bad thing. I
am looking forward to those pieces of development. I
think the super Wal-Mart is going to be a real benefit
to my family, too, not to mention all the new jobs
development creates for the community as a whole.

We're not all going to agree on development issues,
but thanks for bringing this one to my attention.

Christine

I thought that was pretty reasonable and mild-mannnered. But boy, did I get bitch-slapped when she responded to me. I have put the stuff that made me laugh in bold, so you can get the joke, too...

Dear Christine,

Thanks for your e-mail and your thoughts. I have to say your e-mail is
the
first one that I have received that supports the Super Wal-Mart. But it
is
also obvious to me Christine, that you have not read the e-mails,
flyers, or
letters well. Most of us are not opposed to development when
development is
put in place with proper guidelines and sanctions - that has not
occurred
very often in this county. Not sure how long you have lived here; I
have
lived here 42 years and have wept at some of the unnecessary
destruction to
our natural habitats not to mention to neighborhoods. If you have not
driven
by St. Andrews Estates then I suggest you do so and talk to the people
who
live there and whose backyards were raped by the current developers of
Wildewood. St. Andrews Estates is only one small example of
uncontrolled,
wanton, selfish development.

Do many of us prefer that the corner of Shady Mile Drive not be
developed,
or that Shady Mile Drive not be widened and then possibly opened up to
Rt.
4, the answer is "yes" we do oppose these actions. But we have accepted
that
Paul Summers is within his legal rights to develop that corner; we
simply
want the zoning to remain residential mixed vs. commercial mixed.
Residential mixed does allow for small businesses and homes to be
constructed. Actually, many of us would like to see office buildings
constructed there as there would be less impact on traffic and the
buildings
would be relatively quiet at night and during weekends. Tammie Sebacher
and
I have suggested this to Mr. Summers and Mr. Kabat.

As far as the super Wal-Mart goes, I'm afraid I don't support your
opinion.
Wal-Mart is understaffed now as it is, and one large component of this
super
Wal-Mart will be a grocery store. Christine, we need another grocery
store
along this corridor like we need a hole in the head, not to mention the
impact on traffic in front of Town Creek Manor. The kind of jobs that
Wal-Mart creates are really not very beneficial to the county's economy
although they may benefit a few individual people and do purchase TDRs.

Sadly, especially in this country we are consumed with ourselves and
are
guilty of not having a more global view of the world. I would be happy
to
introduce you to a long list of people/families whose lives will be
affected
by potential large scale commercial development (if this is approved)
at the
corner of Shady Mile. And by the way Christine, personally I will not
be as
affected by this development as the many others whose homes abut this
property as I live further back in Town Creek. But, I am compassionate
enough to know how people's lives will change and not for the better.
Look
beyond yourself and think of your neighbors.

In conclusion, I do thank you for writing and although I cannot agree
with
your opinion; I do respect your correspondence especially as you
represent a
minority.

Sincerely,


I just love that my disagreement instantly makes me unable to "look beyond myself and think of my neighbors".

YUP, she calls herself compassionate, so I guess she must be. Me, I'm just pure evil, but at least I represent a minority (that minority being people willing to disagree with her, I'll wager).

I also am amused to read that she actually lives far from the proposed development site. So, her opinion, holy as it is, is more "what the community wants" than the opinion of those who disagree with her but who actually live here.

See, told ya it was funny.