Letters to the Editor
AKA Smith
Published Letters: 4572 Editor's Choice: 83
-
Dear LW - KMMS,
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You end your letter by asking, “Shouldn't common courtesy and decency apply all the way through life?”
Not really. Certain circumstances suspend or mitigate strict requirements for courtesty and decency. Dying is surely one of them. We all like to have this vision of such a crisis somehow making us more contemplative and better people. For all you know, he actually is a better and more contemplative person. After all, you are not likely to have known him for more than three months.
Within the three months that you have known his daughter, you have no doubt been busy with courtship-type things. The flowers are a sweet touch, and you make it clear that you are an improvement over her previous boyfriend, who was no-account. (Please be cautious about the idea of spending the rest of your life with a woman of such poor taste in men.) Being twenty-something and being in love is truly a giddy experience. You are old enough to have acquired some judgment and young enough to be bewitched. Enjoy!
However, delay any need you may feel to confront her father until you are formally engaged and have known the family at least a year. “Common courtesy and decency” require such reasonable restraint.
Also, I wouldn’t absolutely count on him dying. You seem strangely unclear on his actual diagnosis. You could show some interest and ask for more details. If the family is lucky, he may still be around in a year, and maybe, if he gets his transplant, he will be in better shape to enjoy a manly confrontation. Your girlfriend may find it thrilling. She can be in one corner with a water spigot and a towel to wipe your brow. Her mother will no doubt want to attend in the other corner with the same accoutrements. Don’t forget to touch gloves!
During the waiting period, although you will be understandably champing at the bit, I suggest you implement every detail of Cary’s suggested plan.
-
Deal all,
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have been accused here of petitioning to have Sham of a Man removed from Salon. This is false. I have never contacted Salon directly about Sham or anyone. I have never tried to get anyone banned from any website. Since I am a free speech fanatic and think even misogynistic lightweights should be allowed to post here or anywhere, it was not I who petitioned Salon. Indeed, I suspect that no one actually petitioned Salon about Sham and that he is having a paranoid moment.
Or maybe he is just mad because I choose to ignore him.
Since he is always going on and on about honesty, maybe he should quit lying.
-
Correction: I mean Dear All.
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is Sham who is going to have to deal with the fact that I don't want to deal with him. Ignoring someone is not the same as censorship
-
To Epizia
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am sorry about your Dad.
I would just like to point out that the LW said his girlfriend lived at home because of the family business. If this is a small business operated out of the home, this makes sense. Small sole proprietorships can save lots of money via home operation.
It may also indicate that the LW was not the only reason she chose not to move.
-
However, I begin to have great doubts about the LW and wonder if any of his scenario is true.
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read his other letters. He claims to know that it was common for men to wear hats many years past. I would know this because I am over 50. My daughter who is 25 would not know this.
In a previous letter, as was pointed out, the LW claimed to be in the over 50 demographic of television viewers.
I have read in the past that some people believe that Cary makes up the letters to which he responds. This current oddity may suggest that he certainly need not do that for the letter to be a fake.
Okay LW, time to fess up. Are you in your 20s or in your 50s? Did you just want to see how many people would leap to call you a sociopath or a narcissist?
Hmmm. Narcissist. Maybe that shoe fits.
-
To Sam:
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your apology is accepted.
I truly don't know what you mean by change of heart. I thought the LW was peculiarly self-centered from the first reading of his letter. Apparently lots of people agreed with me. Perhaps we were all fooled and he is simply a fake.
-
Quiet Type,
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This way things are going this morning, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear from the stepfather.
-
I have such mixed feelings.
[Read the article: The president and the peach man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am an employer of a man who is in this country illegally. He mows my lawn. I do not pay him less than the high school boy who previously mowed my lawn. I pay him more. Why? Because he does a better job.
He has been in this country over 20 years. He works at an auto dealership driving customers back to their homes after they leave their cars for repair at the dealership. His English skills are very poor. Fortunately I know a bit of Spanish and we are able to communicate enough to get the lawn mowed.
I don't want to see him sent back to Mexico and not just because I like the way he mows my lawn but because he has been here twenty years, paying taxes and being productive. Merely knowing English does not make one productive. Although it is a useful thing for a President of the United States.
Sigh.
On the other hand, I know that illegal immigrants do depress wages for poor American citizens who could use the work illegal immigrants do to better their lives. It is a myth that Americans don't want to do certain types of work. I used to work with people with disablilities who would be glad of any type of work.
Why should we subsidize employers with a guest worker program. Guest workers are subject to exploitation as well. I remember the old bracero program and those guest workers were treated appallingly.