I don't make people angry. It's their decision. Not mine.

I don’t make people angry. Instead, people make themselves angry. It’s their choice. When somebody writes me an angry letter, I don’t get angry. Or even that much annoyed. Because I’m able to brush it off. I put another person’s anger in perspective. It’s his/her anger. Not mine. I make a conscious choice not to be angry. I learned long ago that anger is self-defeating. It gets one into trouble. Big trouble.

I’ve received several letters in recent weeks. From angry people. They blame me for getting themselves suspended or banned from the Alzheimer’s message boards. Because they posted angry threads. And they said their anger was precipitated by me. And therefore it was my fault that they were taken to task by the message boards administrators.

Now that’s nonsense. The angry posters violated the rules and guidelines established for the message boards. Everybody is supposed to treat their fellow care-givers with the utmost respect. Even in disagreement. I don’t find that hard to do. I try very hard to be kind and respectful. Especially on the message boards. Because that’s what is expected.

In my blog, however, I have a bit more leeway. I set the rules. Because it’s my blog. And I allow myself to be a little bit disrespectful of disrespectful people. I take angry people to task for being angry and then blaming me for their anger. That’s downright funny. They make the conscious choice to be angry. It’s their decision. Not mine. –Jim Broede.