"Why You Gotta Be So Mean?"

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Both business and art seem to attract criticism, so combining the two would certainly bring some. That doesn't really make it any easier to swallow, though. 

I got home late last night from a wonderful day out with John. On a whim, we ate breakfast at Panera before church. After church, we had lunch with friends, went to the Aquarium, and saw the Hobbit. We had so much fun! When we got in, I was surprised to see how many views my Etsy shop had received during the day and soon realized I had gotten a lot of traffic from one particular website. Intrigued, I looked it up and hunted for the page that apparently led to my shop. It was one of those websites that declares and tracks trends (whatever that means), gives ideas, etc., so I was hoping for something positive. Was I ever wrong. 

Granted, I'm not known for having a thick skin, but to have vulgar things said about something that I made...I don't know that there's skin thick enough for that. 

Being a youth of the 21st century, Taylor Swift swiftly ( ;-) ) lent her lyrics for expressing my feelings: "Why you gotta be so mean?" It's pretty much been playing in my head since. 

I don't know why someone thought it would be funny to gather things off of Etsy that they thought were sub-par and say mean, nasty things about them. That's a lot of cynicism and negativity. Is it really all that hard to say nice things? Maybe it's just hard to get one's mind out of the gutter. It's sad, really. 

So I've been thinking...
Maybe this person went through a particularly nasty breakup recently.
Maybe they were abused. 
Maybe they were bullied. 
Maybe someone they loved left or died around the holidays. 
Maybe they're a single parent and really need that job, even if it's an icky one. 
Maybe they're just really lost and sad and lonely and without a lot of hope or peace right now. 

Whatever the case, they have a big, fat need for grace--from me and all the other hardworking Etsy folks they said nasty things about. And, you know what? I need grace, too, because I'm not always nice either. I guess that puts me and this person in kind of the same boat. 

I don't really like that, but it's true. We're broken. Messed up. In real need of grace. 

So, person-out-there-who-was-a-meanie-face-yesterday, I'm sorry you don't like everything on Etsy, but I'm not going to let you decide what is okay in my shop. I'm sorry for the mean things I said in my head about you last night. 

Adventure well; Live fully.
HAK