I should have known better

Hello world,

My life has been hectic later. Good hectic, but hectic nonetheless. I found a new job that I LOVE and have been dedicating 110% of my time to it. Well, I have to! Since there are nearly 400 elementary kids looking up to me to show them how amazing ART can be to their learning, growth, and life.

So, my internet browsing has dwindle to checking emails and looking for teaching resources. The notifications icon from Goggle has been red for so long, it has lost its effect and blended with the background. But today, I clicked on it and was surprised to find this:

Ouch!
It took me a second to remember what it was about. It's refering to this comment I posted on a youtube tutorial last year.

Honestly, I wasn't even thinking too much when I wrote it. I, certainly, wasn't trying to sound "quite rude" or "slightly angry." A few days later, I would re-read this comment over and over looking for what had triggered this reply:

I never judged "all" of his content. I never said I didn't like it (I guess incidentally I did).

What happened next is what the title of this post refers to; instead of trying to understand how my comment made HIM feel, I took a defensive approach that was partly triggered by the knowledge (from experience) that when you create content and put it out in the world you better be ready for all kinds of judgments, and you must take them graciously, learn what you can, and move on.

Don't believe me? Check out the 1 and 2 stars reviews I got for One Hit Wonder. Imagine if I just decided to angrily reply to everyone who had something to say about my work that I didn't like it.

Sure, Mr. Paterson gave me his tutorial for "free", but I really didn't mean to offend him in the first place. So, I felt unfairly treated and turned the whole thing to be about MY feelings.

In retrospect, I can see that I forgot something essential: BE KIND.

And I'm ashamed because kindness is one of the major directives in which my life is based upon. SmittenKittenKat was right to call me out. It made me realize that is not enough to "mean" good, but you also have to "do" good.

Unaware of my behavior and with my conscious clear, I had forgotten about it, and I have a hunch Mr. Paterson did too. But the things you post on the cyber-world are always there, floating around until they make their way back to you. Today, it found me. And I, belatedly, posted an apology.

It might not mean anything to Mr. Paterson after all this time, but it means tons to me. I'm glad I had a chance to reflect about the whole thing. As a writer, I should be always attentive of the words I choose to comment on other people's work and -- as a person -- I should always, always, be kind.