.....caveat emptor...or maybe, pray for a little control over impulse buying. If Lamott had just unrolled the carpet and discovered the suspicious stain, she would have saved herself a lot of grief.

If Lamott was trying to be a role model, or to point to Jesus as a role model, she certainly did a piss-poor job of it. So, she relieved herself of the burden of feeling angry? So what? She did absolutely nothing to prevent other people from being victimized by a thief. (Even Jesus, no wimp, drove the money changers from the temple.) I got the impression that the writer just wanted to brag about how enlightened and evolve she is. That's not christian; merely sanctimonious.

An awful lot of people seem to have an awful lot of time to waste over an irritating, badly written bit of self-inflicted rage. Who buys a carpet remnant in a shady store without looking at it? And what's Jesus got to do with it?

I think Anne is trying to make the point that no matter how sh*t-headed someone is, you can't resort to those tactics yourself. But what do you do when clearly you are on the "being screwed" side? I don't know. I've been dealing with contractors for a year now and have definately gone to the dark side with them. It didn't make them any better at getting the job done. My blood pressure was raised and my relationship with them became adversarial. My bathroom still isn't finished.

How do you take some control without losing control? Fifty dollars isn't enough to go to court over, but a letter to the BBB might bring some relief. Cancelling the check that was originally wrote out works too.

Unfortunate news for our ID, YOU have to be the bigger, more professional person and sometimes take a small loss in the name of peace of mind. For a business person, the negative reprecussions from dishonest dealings eventually ruins business. The carpet guy couldn't even cover a $50 check...obviously he's on the ropes along with his stinky carpet. Who wants to be him?

It is hard to take when someone is so rude and willing to cheat--you want to smack them in the head and feel the full satisfaction of knowing they feel the full force of your wrath. But it never works out that way...it just turns into an ugly quagmire where you are still the loser.

I want Anne Lamott to refund me the five minutes I wasted reading this column. Getting dicked over has nothing to do with grace or forgiveness or whatever the hell else she was trying to tie it to. Pointless.

I am also pretty shocked about the response to this article. When so-called liberals use words like compassionate and forgiving to describe themselves, do they understand that these qualities aren't quality unless they're consistant? That charity and empathy can really only exist when they're practised even in situations that don't work in the person's favour? I'm sorry if these haters are allergic to Jesus, and I ain't no Christian, but his message, along with Ghandi's, along with Rumi's, along with Buddha's, along with every person in my life I see as compassionate and admirable, is that these petty grievances are temporary - window-dressing on a greater existance. Anne's article was about her spiritual journey, and her need to work through the dark emotions that we feel when we have been wronged. She's not saying she won't be more careful next time. She's saying that she finally understood that the carpet guy was in trouble, and she stepped back from adding her negativity to his shame. Just think about it a bit before you call her sanctimonious. Isn't there something bigger at work than making him pay? What is revenge, or even justice, in the face of compassion?

Sheesh! So now everyone who expressed their opinion that Lamott's article was smug, or pointless, or that she did the wrong thing is a godless attrocity????? What's with members of your particular branch of Christianity that causes you to get your knickers in a knot when anyone has the audacity to criticize a poor piece of writing whose author claims to be a fellow believer? A lot of the commentors whose thoughts you disparage are, no doubt, just as spiritual as Ms. Lamott claims to be -- actually, probably more so, because they would follow Jesus's exampe and actually do something to prevent others from being victimized by a crook rather than gloat about how full of grace thou art!

Anne, you make me ashamed of you.

You could have handled your anger with grace, you could have pursued this through legal channels, but YOU apologized to HIM for his treatment of you?

I was so delighted to see you back on Salon, and now my delight has curdled. Shame on you.

I found the article really confusing about what type of lesson Anne was trying to teach herself and us. Sure anger can overwhelm us with hate and that can be a very toxic thing. However the opposite is no better either. In the end she went with a solution of treating the salesman with tolerance and respect (although not with respect initially) however what she didn't do was treat herself and her church with respect. Honestly what I hope Anne and some of us learn from this is that the solution to the question "What would Jesus have done?" is that he would have prayed to God for a win-win inspiration where somehow all parties come out feeling respected. And as I say this of course I hope that I have the strength to follow my own advice the next time I find myself in her situation.... because talking is much easier than doing.

Honestly Mr. Spencer, what does being a liberal have to do with critiquing a bad article agonizing over a misguided concept?

Wow. People read the words Bible, Jesus and God and immediately the hackles go up. So many people missed the point - Anne wasn't going to get her money back no matter what. It was about acceptance. Now she just happened to draw on her faith to learn this lesson, but I didn't think this message was a Christians-only one. So many people go through their lives thinking that fair is the way of the world, when in reality, very rarely are things in life fair. How we act and react to injustice or unfairness is a major indicator to how we live our lives. Are we going to let someone else's base behavior make us miserable, ugly people? Or, are we going to try and find a better way to deal?

I am not a religious person, but I really appreciated Anne Lamott's essay. I think we should all attempt to not add more ugliness to the world. We have enough.