Sunday, April 26, 2009

Amazing

It is amazing that one post can cause so much controversy. Yes, one post about our family meeting the Governor of Iowa led to some pretty amazing fire works around these parts.

To recap, I posted pictures of my kids meeting the governor. I blurred out the faces of the other children in the picture because I did not have permission from those children's parents to post their picture. I received a comment asking why I did that because it was tacky. I posted exactly why I did that in the following post explaining my reasons very tactfully and as nicely as I could. I received another comment saying that was admirable. I thought it was over. Little did I know...

A day later I was forwarded an email that a friend of the family received from someone they know...about me! The email included the pictures I had on my blog. The email stated something along the lines of: I am embarrassed and don't care about the Czech people or the community. That I am self centered and only care about my family and that I am not the kind of person that needs to belong to their organization. WTH??

I read this email at 11:00 at night after volunteering all day and most of the night for a Czech Organization that was hurt by the flood! I burst into tears. Cool got mad. It was quite a night.

Things have quieted down. I haven't received any other emails but I really haven't felt like blogging either. The thought of someone sending an email like that around with our real names that include MY pictures bothers me a lot.

My blog has always been important to me. It is a mom thing, a family thing. It is our evidences of learning. My scrap book of sorts. A tool of communication. My sanity at times. I don't want all that to change. And even though I have given change a lot of thought this past week...

NOTHING is going to change on my blog. The frequency of posts will still be erratic. The content will be about our family and our homeschooling path. I will include important information pertaining to all of that. My mini lessons will be posted. Our book and video lists will be on the side bar. AND faces will be blurred of those that I don't have permission from. Period!

So, if you are reading this, and you know who you are, it didn't work. Your hurtful words about me didn't scare me off. It did hurt, I won't deny that, but it isn't going to change anything. My kids will be associated with your group as long as they want to be, as long as others welcome them. They have much better character than I do because, I am ready to pull us out completely and not look back, but they want to stay and I respect that.

© Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

3 comments:

Michelle said...

I'm so sorry you've had to go through this; how despicable. Some people have nothing better to do with their time than create lies and stir up trouble. And I know what it's like when people make unfounded accusations at you; it's hurtful and it's consumes you for a time.

I know many bloggers who cover the faces of other children, heck, they do it on tv! I was shocked when I read the initial comment, and nearly left a comment in reply (always gotta stick my oar in!)

If someone posted a photo of my child on the net without my permission, I'd be ticked off; you did the right thing. We all value our privacy and you're someone who also values the privacy of others. It's sad this trouble maker does not.

I'm glad you're going to keep blogging; I really enjoy your blog. Good for you. :)

Tina said...

Oh my goodness, some people are just idiots, I'm sorry. It never fails to amaze me when people jump to ridiculous assumptions such as you have just endured. Its just so petty and immature and uneducated. YOU have nothing to be ashamed of...THEY, on the other hand, should hide their face in shame for such juvenile and idiotic comments!

I've dealt with all kinds of people over the years with all the websites I run, and I just need to keep all the wonderful people like you in my head first and foremost because the morons on the internet really seem to stand out far too much and make it hard to enjoy life if you let them get to you.

So don't let them get to you and know that there are many of us out there that think you are truly wonderful and wish to be MORE LIKE YOU in all that you do for your family! (serious homeschool envy going on here...I don't do even half of the cool things that you do with and for your kids...striving to do better with my homeschooling and you are one of my big inspirations, I tell ya!)

Stephanie said...

WTF? That is extremely odd. Erasing the faces of other people's kids, when there hasn't been explicit permission to post them, is a common practice. HUGS