Do you ever feel like you are the re-set button of your household, putting everything back into place so that it can be found and pulled out again?

I guess I knew I would ripple the surface when I hit "reply to all" on a recent e-mail that sarcastically oversimplifyied problems with "Mexican" illegal immigrants and unfairly blamed the problem on Obama. The e-mail came from an adult involved in one of my kids' organizations. Maybe I should have just deleted it like I usually do. But I could see the e-mail addresses of the people to whom it was sent and I didn't want them to think that I thought this was funny. I didn't want them to start sending me this crap too.

So I sent a brief, but clear reply-to-all, stating that I found the oversimplification offensive and that problems with immigration existed before Obama and would exist after Obama.

Man-o-man! Two fellow-recipients moderately backed me up, which I appreciated however anemic their support. I received a scathing e-mail from either the sender's wife or daughter saying, among other things, that I was wrong to have replied to all. Of course, I had to reply to that too, but just to her since she sent it just to me.

The sender apologized and removed me from his political tirade e-mail list, which I thanked him for. I also told him I was confident that the offense was unintentional. When I saw him again, he was friendly, although I can't say I felt that way from the looks his daughter and wife gave me. Let's just say I'm not expecting any dinner invitations, which is fine by me.

So do you get these kind of political or religious e-mails that are opposite your views? Do you just continue to delete? Have you ever replied to all? Do you think I was out of line? At what point do you feel you must respond?

Here's the chaos just below my surface:




I'm trying to keep all the seepage and stench in check, but sometime is just creeps right in. It takes quite an effort to control