The other day my wife got yet another annoying letter from her lying piece of shit father (appropriately named Dick.) I asked her what she intended to do about it, and she said she’d just toss it in the file folder where she keeps all the crap she gets from Dick. (He so frequently contradicts himself and re-creates history, we found a long time ago that it was of some use to retain past versions of his BS, just in the event we wished/needed to try to tease fact from his latest fiction.)
I asked her what the folder was named, and she said “Crap from Dick.” Which I found quite amusing.
But it led me to wonder, how many folks maintain a folder documenting contact with an annoying or irrational friend or relative?
I have a folder with a series of disturbing correspondence from my parents. They said such strange things that had such an effect on me that I thought I should save the letters in case sometime later in my life I thought I might want to “revisit the subject.” On the other hand, they are so disturbing that I often think I should throw them out. So there they sit. Now you and the SDMB are the only ones who know…
And we promise to keep it our little secret…
I have. I usually throw them out after a few years. The 8 page letter of disappointment from my father lasted six years. The (hundredth :p) “breaking up” letter from my alleged best friend stuck around for three or four years. It comes down to holding grudges: when I feel myself close to forgiveness, it’s nice to be able to read those things as a reminder why I don’t care to have him or her in my life. After a few years, these things seem silly and/or the other person makes an effort to reconnect - who am I to tell them that our relationship isn’t worth it? Too freaking forgiving, that’s me.
Anyhow, I hold on to emails from a particular person. These ones overstep my personal boundaries of racism. I have one sitting in my inbox right now, allegedly about how a white person would be charged for B&E while a person of hispanic descent would be forgiven, even praised, by our government. I’ve held on to that one, intending to have it translated into spanish and send it back. I’m a coward, though; it’ll sit there for a few months before I decide it’s not worth losing that tentative friendship.
Life lesson number 12,459: don’t mention anything (anything!) that might make people think you share political views. You don’t. You won’t. And now it feels too late to backpedal. :smack:
My mother never writes the awful stuff down (well, accept in her journal), so that only leaves me to cope with whatever shitty stuff she says. Which means I’ve often wished for a tape recorder. A lot. However, I know it wouldn’t do any good because even if she listened to her own voice repeat back to her what was said, she’d only deny it. And if she knew the word and what it meant, would offer up as an excuse that it was taken out of context.
:rolleyes:
So I figure overall there’s just no point. I’d never be able to incriminate her enough with the rope she’s hung herself with, so simply staying away as much as possible is the only healthy option for me.
If anyone ever has any damning photos of her, you can contact me at satanshatedonlychildpossessedbydemonbob@gmail.com.