On Monday, I wrote an article about my new-found success with a strict, ketogenic eating plan. Jimmy Moore posted my article on his Facebook page and his discussion board, and before I knew it, my site had more traffic than it had ever seen in one day. I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
Then yesterday, while I was working on a different blog post, I happened to read a comment that was posted about my article. DFH wrote:
“Good story, good for her! Nice blog, but the ‘liberty’ stuff is goofy and over used. It is so over used that when I see someone trying to label their message ‘liberty’ I know they are just a kook!”
Now, I’d be lying if I said the label didn’t bother me at all. The truth is, I can take constructive criticism, but name-calling has a way of working it’s way under my skin.
Then I stopped and thought about it for a second. I’ve been writing this blog for more than a year, and I’ve never received anything but support and good feedback. If folks wanted to offer me constructive criticism, I would be glad to hear it with an open mind so long as the folks sharing the criticism remained polite. The fact that DFH has determined I’m a “kook” actually says something more telling. It says my blog is getting enough exposure that not everyone is gonna think I’m great. And at the end of the day, I’m totally OK with that.
I realize there are worse things that people could label me, and I also realize that I blog about things that might seem “fringe” to some. The thing that gets me though is what’s so goofy about valuing my freedom? Why am I a “kook” because I want to get healthy, produce some of my own food, raise my family as moral people, and live without needing someone to take care of us and fix all our problems? To me, there’s nothing kooky about personal responsibility. There’s nothing goofy about caring where your family and your country are headed, and there’s nothing strange about wanting the government to do its job so I can do mine.
Claiming one’s liberty is simple, but it certainly isn’t easy. I know that some folks are fine with the current paradigm, but I’m not one of those folks. If I were, as a blind person, I wouldn’t try to be a productive member of society. I’d let my government take care of me. I never would have learned so much about things like gardening, low-carb living, nutrition, homesteading, and faith.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that if my assertion that we should all take some personal responsiblity earns me the label “kook”, then so be it. I’m still going to remain passionate about my God, my family, and my community/country. Name-calling may have worked when I was a kid, but in this particular case, it just solidifies my view that I must be doing something right since I have critics. :)
Ask Jimmy about the haters! He gets some real doozies. History shows what happens sometimes to folk who do it differently, often they are visionary, well ahead of their time. Stick with it, dare to be different and try not to be lonely on the leading edge, it isn’t crowded but there are stacks of folk like me who are inspired by your stories, the haters are too, you inspire them to comment even though they can only do so at a basic level. It’s only their opinion, you can choose to value it or not!