My last entry was about the Flora-Bama lounge, a place that was special in my heart because of a good time that was once spent there, and a memory rooted to some writing on the wall.

That part of the place appears to be gone, just a mass of twisted debris lying along the highway on Perdido Key, soon to be swept away with all the other detritus the storm left behind.

I won’t go into excruciating detail, but there have been some changes in my situation recently, and they’ve left my life in much the same condition as Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. It’s still there, but it’ll never be quite the same again. I am not myself lately, and things that would normally roll off me like water off a duck’s back are now burdening me. Put simply, I have a thin skin these days.

Back before hurricane Ivan hit, a person I thought was my friend told everyone, via his blog, that America deserved the destruction Ivan would wreak on its shores, because of all the horrible things we’ve done. His assertion was that it was somehow right and proper that thousands of coastal residents should have their lives thrown into chaos, and that many should be killed or injured. I was shocked, and hurt.

When I posted my last entry, that same person put a comment here on my blog, again saying basically, “Serves you right.” The Kyoto Agreement was mentioned, as though I was personally responsible for not signing it.

Some friendly person objected to that comment … and then early this morning, another America-basher, posting as a self-admitted “anonymous coward”, saw fit to continue the tirade.

I simply can’t handle this right now — I have enough hard emotional issues occupying my attention, without trying to defend myself and my nationality. I tried to turn off comments for that entry, but being unfamiliar with those functions in LiveJournal, I seem to have screwed it up. I somehow deleted all the comments and I can’t figure out how to get them back. I didn’t delete them on purpose as an act of censorship, I swear that’s true, it really was an accident — but I must admit I’m not completely unhappy that they’re gone.

As they say in twelve-step meetings, hello, my name is Scott, and I am an American. I like to think that despite that, I am a respectable, honest, likable person. My country and my government might have done some things I’m not proud of, but I didn’t bring any of those things about, and I use my vote and my voice to do my part to change them. A wise man once said that people should be judged “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” I believe that maxim extends to nationality as well as skin color.

I am going to leave comments enabled for this entry, mainly because I don’t know how to safely disable them. I will be an easy target, because I haven’t the energy or the strength to respond in kind to further attacks. I am waving the white flag, so if you have something negative to say, please keep it to yourself or send it to someone more accustomed to being hated and reviled: president@whitehouse.gov.