Rev7

About my recent PM.

I wanted to apologize. Really, I do. It was a damned stupid stunt to pull, and while I found it amusing at the time, looking back on it I clearly wasn't thinking straight. If thinking at all, because if I'd been exercising at least a modicum of brainpower I would've realized how utterly moronic a thing it was to do.

You're likely aware that we hold very different (and also conflicting) beliefs. And while I disagree with yours, it doesn't give me any moral authority to inflict deliberate malice on people who think as you do. It makes me no better than Falwell or even bin Laden. And ironically, but in retrospect unsurprisingly, our justification for our behavior is the same. "The people who believe this way are a bunch of ****ers!"

That's not to say I think people think should adopt a 'live and let live' policy in regards to others' opinions simply because they're opinions. I don't. I hate it when people say 'it's only my opinion!' as a cop-out to avoid justifying their own views.

But despite you sharing beliefs so commonly held by extremists, you've been nothing but courteous towards others in sharing them and exhibited an almost saintly patience in response to the potshots I've repeatedly taken at you in various threads. What's even more embarrassing about this is that you're the younger one here, and were our situation occurring between anyone else I'd expect *you* to be the one apologizing and learning a lesson about maturity instead of me. It's quite humbling, and it seems I have more growing up to do than I'd thought.

So, I'm sorry. I won't ask you to accept my apology, as (for understandable reasons) you don't have any reason to. Words are worthless in the face of actions and yadda yadda yadda. But I wanted to make my regret, for what (little) it's worth clear to you. Hell, it probably seems incredibly inconsistent of me to even be apologizing. And it is. But again, consistent or not, I apologize for the recent PM I sent you.

(Truth be told, this little catharsis was inspired by a recent news article regarding religious extremism I read. There's irony everywhere here.)

(And given the title of my latest PM to you, you can understand why I chose to instead leave a visitor message.)