Standing on Principle

I received an email today from someone who doesn't know my liberal leanings, or I presume she doesn't know them. The email told a "joke" about a West-coast "tree-hugger."

The story says the tree-hugger bought land in the Pacific northwest and climbed one of the trees on her land to survey the beauty of her place. As she neared the top of the tree, a spotted owl attacked her and she slid down the trunk to the ground, getting splinters in her crotch. She went to the doctor and explained what happened. He had her sit in the waiting room for three hours. When he returned, she angrily asked what took so long.

He responded, "Well, I had to get permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service ,and the Bureau of Land Management before I could remove old growth timber from a recreational area. I'm sorry, but due to Obama Care, they turned me down." The joke ended with "God Bless America.

Yesterday, I wrote about how humor keeps me sane. This wasn't what I was writing about. This sort of thing doesn't keep me sane; it tends to work the other way.

But I have to remember, it's not the joke that upsets me, it's my reaction to it. I hope my response to the sender was enough to express my lack of appreciation, yet not be reactionary. I responded that I was someone with rather liberal leanings and might be considered an environmentalist...and that spotted owls tended not to attack people but, instead, it was the other way around. And I ended with a "smiley" emoticon.

I could have simply ignored the message. Most times, I probably would. But this time the message was from someone with whom I communicate fairly often and I felt it would be inappropriate to simply ignore the email. In my response, I tried to show my disapproval without being disagreeable.

Stand on principle, but don't stand in the way of communication.