I have given this question a lot of thought over the past few days. There was a blog a few days ago that has since been removed. It was written by someone who slipped after a near accident and when an elder posted that it is really important to get back on the quit, the response was something about not needing comments from the “peanut gallery.” I took great offense at that and I sent the blogger a PM saying that and trying to encourage another try, I tried to emphasize that we have all been in that ultra-sensitive phase where everything either makes us cry or makes us angry, NONE of us are trying to make things harder for anyone. None of us want to “beat you up.” We want to help you in any way that we can, we KNOW what it is like, we KNOW how it feels to fail and we also know how it feels to be free. We come to EX and KEEP coming to EX to help other people and to reinforce in ourselves how far we have come. Some elders have come a very long ways but they still take the time to come here and comment or come here and blog. No one is asking for accolades, however, I do feel that every person here is entitled to respect, every newbie and every elder and all of those in between. I am NOT a member of a “peanut gallery” which is defined as: “ a group of people who criticize someone, often by focusing on insignificant details.” It takes a lot to make me angry or to offend me because I have been both angry and offended many times in my life. I don’t come here to criticize or to do anything other than to help people who want to quit. I DO recognize excuses to smoke, I have probably used all of them over the years. The day after that blog and my response, I developed shingles…I suspect I had already started but I just felt sick until the telltale rash appeared. It hurts, it REALLY hurts. It is not my first time, more like my 10th but, for some reason, I never recognize what is going on until it is too late to get anti-virals. I think that it is entirely possible that I was overly sensitive but the term “peanut gallery” was just too much for me. My apologies to the blogger who has apparently removed herself from the site, my apologies to any of her friends who have lost out on her journey, I assure you that it was not my intention.
Best to all,
Ellen
