Dear Dog

This morning I found a comment on the site and I just thought I’d like to share it with you.The comment is in response to a post I made back in February about Phil Spector being arrested on murder charges. To put things in perspective, the original post contained 101 words. Here’s the comment from a person I will refer to as Dog:

Ummmm, f**k Phil Spector. Who cares if he's a producer, or even the fact that he killed somebody? Makes me wanna kill myself. I don't even want to be here. I was looking for the definition of "spector" and I couldn't help but read this. I only care because I am scared that people care about garbage. People get killed by other people every day and this is special? I pray dog that nobody else wastes their time reading the above.

Posted by Merkabah at July 31, 2003 10:29 PM

My response…

Dear Dog,

Rule number one around here: If you are going to use expletives, then at least have the guts to stand behind your convictions, and to spell them out. F**K is not a word. If it is fuck you mean, then it is fuck you should write. In short…have balls, will prove it.

Perhaps you were really looking for the word “specter” not “Spector”?

specter
n 1: a mental representation of some haunting experience; "he looked like he had seen a ghost"; "it aroused specters from his past"

Hey Dog, what’s up with you wearing your suicidal tendencies on your sleeve like a piece of jewelry? Shouldn’t you be alarmed? You actually seem to be proud of your not wanting to be here. Perhaps this is what sets your generation apart from mine….most of us still believe that suicidal tendencies are a sign that something has gone amiss. Perhaps there is a depression lurking?

A tip from one dog to another: One of the best ways to deal with feelings of depression, low self-esteem or worthlessness is to immediately do something kind, to go out of your way for somebody else and do something kind for them…perhaps even a total stranger. Not only will you not be wasting your time, but you will feel better, more connected, more hopeful, less jaded, less fucked up… dare I say fulfilled. In short you might find out you actually do want to be here, that you can in fact make a difference and you don’t just have to be a person who whines about how fucked everything and everyone else is.

Try being kind…you might find you like yourself after all.

kind
adj. kind•er, kind•est
1. Of a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature.
2. Showing sympathy or understanding; charitable: a kind word.
3. Humane; considerate: kind to animals.
4. Forbearing; tolerant: Our neighbor was very kind about the window we broke.
5. Generous; liberal: kind words of praise.
6. Agreeable; beneficial: a dry climate kind to asthmatics.

As for the definition of the word “Spector”….it’s a proper noun, in other words a last name like Arden, Beethoven, Edison, Gandhi, Fitzgerald, Keller, Picasso, Sinatra, Twain, …etc.

proper noun
A noun belonging to the class of words used as names for unique individuals, events, or places. Also called proper name.

Now, as for the word dog…

dog
n.
A domesticated carnivorous mammal (Canis familiaris) related to the foxes and wolves and raised in a wide variety of breeds….

Also known in some circles as “man’s best friend.”

So Dog, did you know that there are all sorts of online dictionaries. Just type in the word “dictionary” into any search engine and boom! We live in lazy times. You would have had your “definition” in 30 seconds, but you wouldn’t have gotten this email from an actual real person, who actually still does give a…

And so a new day begins...with a bit of a chuckle.