Published: January 17, 2009 07:00 pm      

Kathy Gibbons: Shut up and write?

Way back when, I did a column about the Dixie Chicks' take on President Bush.

Disagree with them, yes, I wrote. But at the time, there were massive boycotts of their music and concerts, and more significantly, threats against their safety. I didn't think that was right, and said so.

I got a little taste of what they got then. While some people wrote respectfully offering opposing opinions, others were just plain vicious.

As a columnist, you shake it off and go on. And I don't often write on politics.

But I was reminded of this after my last column. Like millions of Americans, I have felt we have been living under a shroud of everything that's wrong for a very long time. So I was moved to write about my optimism for this new year with our new president. I let it be known that I don't have a high opinion of our current president and that I felt Sarah Palin for vice president was all glitz and no substance.

Oh boy.

While some wrote agreeing, a few others sent civil letters disagreeing. Then others were just plain mean. The one that stood out, though, came from a man who said, "It seems to be a pattern among 'average' looking, underachieving (small column in a small town failing newspaper), middle-age liberals to smear a high-achieving, intelligent and extremely popular governor."

Of everything, the "underachieving" got me.

I wrote back and told him how I came to be an underachiever. At age 32, when my second child was born, I left a high-paying, 50-hour-a-week corporate-type job to spend time with my kids. I didn't resume working full time until my youngest was near high school graduation -- and when I did, it was at the identical salary I'd been earning 17 years before.

I told him I bet there were a lot of underachieving parents like me out there, who had made choices they would gladly make again, but who have continued to pay in terms of salary, benefits and retirement security. That's not to take anything away from those who don't make those choices -- some people manage to have it all. I didn't feel, for our family, that I could.

He wrote back with more: "Intelligent discussion is a rarity among most of you libs" (his word). He elaborated on the reason "us conservatives consider you as pathetic people deserving of no respect," closing by calling me a hypocrite.

Maybe this will prompt him to write a letter to the editor that all of you can read.

Meanwhile, I probably won't be writing about anything political until I forget again what happens when I do.

Kathy Gibbons can be reached via the Record-Eagle or at gibbonskath@yahoo.com.