Well I got yelled at… again, but this time I learned something.

Not surprising… a certain “Journalist” took offense to one of my postings (possibly more) in regards to my story about rampant racism in the City of Everett & what I perceive as one sided reporting in regards to the local paper.

I would’ve probably been more receptive if I had not done the research myself. The gist was that the paper here reports any hispanic’s name involved in any crime but if it is a caucasian then most times the name is not reported, there is also great emphasis placed on their immigration status (or lack thereof)

What really “spoke” to me was the logic behind the conversation. The prevailing theme is that the reporters are good people who are not prejudiced, he even went as far to say that one of his parents mother used to speak Spanish. Not that he was hispanic, he did not call this person grandmother but his “parents mother”. I told him I used the paper’s search engine to back up what I said & provided numerous examples. So this weekend I Googled the search terms & came up with the same exact results.

In some respects he is right: They are indeed “Journalists” I am merely a blogger. As such I am not held in the same constraints & no one is looking over my shoulder editing what I am saying except for that still small voice which I don’t listen to very often anyway.

I very rarely take a posting down or even edit it because if I write it, I own it. If the subject of the story contacts me & asks me to change it or take it down with good reason I will most times. If I find out I was mistaken, I will always apologize. I know from first hand experience that not everything you read hear or see is true. I have been mistaken, but I do my very best to make sure that everything I write is correct & true & most of the time I back it up with documentation.

I did not go to college for journalism, hell if the City of Everett hadn’t screwed me over & tortured my dogs I would’ve never started blogging, or looking outside my own little “box” but they did, & here I am. I really do like the journalist in questions work. I don’t understand this papers obsession with Aaron Reardon when there is so much more going on in this county, granted it is ALL related but it will take a lot more then taking down one or two of the players.

I get maybe 3 to 4 hundred visitors a day, they have 100’s of thousands of readers. I am not sure if my “stats” are all that good or not, I don’t have anything to really compare them to. I think my “best day” was close to 3600 visits. My reason for being here was just to get my story out but then others with the same kind of stories started coming to me asking me to tell their story. Then I started to take a good look at the ingrates who were in control, but I have never claimed to be a journalist. I am also not “competing” with anyone. I don’t have to because I really don’t care. I don’t get paid for this, it is not my career, but if it helps one person then I am satisfied. And it has, it has actually helped many people. So there you go.

Anyway as I said if I am wrong about something I will be the first to admit it. I also know that even if I am right there are many sides to every story. There is also the fact that people change, sometimes for the better, in which case I take down any negative posts because if they are making an effort then it is not my place to put them down.

Then there is the fact that people & circumstances change. Years ago a certain Snohomish County Sheriff used to be one of my greatest fears… Circumstances threw me right back in his path & I have to tell you 37 years later, I stood with him & with my mother in the parking lot of the Hotel & something drastic had changed… I felt safe. Safe knowing he was here, as I felt all of the anger from my past melted away, I realized something. He had changed & so had I. The humble protective bear he has become must’ve been a hard road to find: Whether he found it by force or by grace I don’t care, it is none of my business, the point is he did. Any time that you get to witness another human being come to grace you should stand in awe.

I know some look forward to my angry outbursts but most of you know that I have become the monsters I have been fighting. Most of you have been kind in telling me so. It took this experience to teach me how close to that abyss I have been walking. It is okay to be angry, it is okay to spout off once in a while but if you lose who you are then “they” have won.

So for years I have been holding on to anger to someone who didn’t deserve it, someone fighting his own battles & it got me nowhere. I have received so many blessings & sometimes they come in lessons. This was one I needed. God is good.