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Published Letters: 117
Editor's Choice: 12
Whenever I look at my dysfunctional family and think woe is me, all I have to do is look at the rest of the dysfunction out there, and I get a little skip in my step...
Since when is "snooping" on loved ones (and friends and co-workers, too, I assume?) some sort of norm? It might be human nature to go up and kiss an attractive person of the opposite sex on a public bus, but we stop ourselves from doing it.
I'll never forget calling home from college one day to ask my mother if I got any mail. She said I got a postcard. I asked who it was from. She said: "It's addressed to you. I wouldn't read something that was meant for you." To this day, I don't believe that any of my family members would leaf through my diary if it was out on my desk.
I have photos in "My Pictures" of me and old boyfriends that would probably upset my significant other, but I don't imagine that he goes through my computer, so I leave them there. They're part of my history, and I want to save them.
If I didn't trust that my loved ones respected me and my privacy, I'd have to comb through every file on my computer and every drawer in my house and remove incriminating letters and photos; I guess I'd also have to keep all financial statements under lock and key.
But I do trust my loved ones. I honestly believe my significant other has not gone through my computer. It would never occur to me to go through his. I can't even fathom "snooping."
Perhaps it's human nature, but it's also deeply disrespectful. Since when do our impulses trump civility? Snooping is like shoplifting when the store owner turns around. There's a touch of sociopathology to it.
