Monday E-Mailbag

I have a friend who forwards a lot of emails. You know the kind, cute pictures, funny little videos, jokes, the occasional don't-microwave-tupperware warning.... Sometimes I look at them, but mostly I just leave them in my Inbox, then delete them a few days later when I'm doing a cleanup. She's an old family friend.

Last Friday I received an email from her with the subject line "Help secure the boarders!" The body of the email said, "Get Ready--- They are faaaast."

This piqued my interest because of the word "boarders." I thought maybe this was a joke. A liberal play on words, perhaps.

Wrong.

It was nothing more than a misspelling of a racist online "game."

Somehow this is supposed to be fun, to shoot border (note the correct spelling) crossers. Blood splatters every time you hit one, and I believe you get extra points for "breeders" but I could be wrong. This "game" is on a website run by proud-to-be-racist, Tom Metzger (founder of the White Aryan Resistance). I am purposefully not linking directly to his website. Look it up yourself if you're interested.

Now the funny thing is, my friend lives in Hawaii and from the preponderance of pro-Obama email she sends, is an avid Obama supporter.

Isn't that ironic.

I struggled with this for a while this weekend, I kept thinking about the quote, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

And yet I hesitated, because she is an old family friend, and someone I care about. I didn't want to hurt her feelings or offend her or embarrass her.

Then, because she is someone I care about, I decided to send her this reply:

I have to say I found this one very offensive... and if you look, the website is run by..... leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Her reply, "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT I JUST HAVE FUN TO SEE HOW MY REFLEXES AR AT MY AGE.
SORRY."

No malice. And today, I got an email to this video:



I'm glad I said something. I've spent too much of my life not saying something.

What would you have done?

On Life. Just Life

It's official.
Mirna has a bump!

Happy Chrismukkah Every One

My friend Tamar posted a great primer on Hanukkah, the festival of lights, over on her blog. I met Tamar in New York this past March when I went to the BlogHer conference.

You ever meet someone with whom you find a connection even though you live entirely different lives? Tamar was one of those people. One of the most fascinating things, for me, is the fact that she lives half the year in Israel... one thing that impresses me in reading her blog is how important her faith is to her, how it is interwoven into her life and not in an in-your-face kind of way. She is not a torah-thumper, but rather she just shares bits of her life and her faith happens to be a part of it. (most of my friends are heathens like me)

Anyway, if you've ever wondered about Hanukkah, read her post. Let's join her in eating "...oil-rich foods featuring potato pancakes and Hanukkah donuts called sufganiyot ....commemorating the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days."

And most importantly, let's all join her in "remembering all those children everywhere who desperately need light to shine on them" this holiday season.