I always feel uneasy and discomforted when these venues are used for arguments and personal reactions rather than just sharing our love for birds. I don't like the angry exchanged because it is something that I have been guilty of too.
I have bad days and manage to put both feet in my mouth when I am in reaction to something someone says to me or I judge or misjudge what someone does. I find that this often filters down to me just wanting to be right about something - and I find I do this more than I like to admit. It takes two or more to fight or to argue. I have received what I call "nasty-grams" and I have authored them too. For me it is always in the spur of the moment and before I realize it, I have immortalized my spur of the moment anger or reaction to the world in the form of an email - written words for eternity. I eternally wish that I could take them back for that spur of the moment wasn't who I really was - it was just a reaction. Now when I receive a nasty-gram I just figure that person is just having a bad day and somehow they think it is about me. They don't even know me. They are just in reaction to something they interpreted me saying that pushed their buttons. And when I send out a nasty- gram, the recipient can interpret it as an attack or just hear it as me having a bad day and thinking it is about them. I don't even know most of them. Everyone on this listserve loves birds and spend countless hours relating to them and sharing about them and making a difference in their passion. It is what we have in common. Isn't there enough violence and war and suffering in this world to allow a bunch of bird lovers to let some things go and get back out there watching the joy of birds? Look, there's a Red-Breasted Nuthatch at my feeder right now (probably not a RBN or a RBNH or a RN as I sometimes abbreviate and get corrected and learn something new about scientific bird abbreviations). Ain't it pretty? Thomas Maiello Angel Environmental Management, Inc. Maple Grove, MN
