Thanks, OneTallDay!
You know, this is a bit off-track, but re: the internet allowing people to rapidly lose their "real-life filter" and beginning to speak cruelly or at least unkindly to people all the time, I had this experience the other day...
I was on FB reading a story posted by a 15 year old girl on either the FB "Horses" site, or maybe it was "16 Hands"; one of those all-horse related subject subscriber-type pages.
Anyhow, her story was about having been written about in her school paper commending her horsemanship and riding prowess. It was quite a favorable article apparently, and she made the point if adding that, "Everyone, & I mean EVERYONE at my school knows I ride and compete at high levels..." Well, okay. So she goes on to say "Some girl [I'm guessing a girl much less 'opular' than she] had the 'nerve' to walk up to ME [as if she is somehow more important than the rest of the student body?] & say that she'd read the article and that she rides too." At this point I can't imagine there being a problem. I was wrong apparently!
The girl posting her "encounter" on FB goes on to write, "So I said to her, 'Oh you ride? Really? What discipline? What breed of horse? Where do you board? What show did you last attend and where did you place?'"
Apparently, the other girl said, "Oh, you know, I ride a brown horse, a female horse, she belongs to my aunt. Whenever we go there she has me riding in one of those saddles without the horn-thing and we work on the whole jumpy-thing." (Clearly the girl's aunt is teaching her to ride English and they do some jumping)...FB-SCHOOL-PAPER-ARTICLE-GIRL writes next, "Yah, I told her that, 'I do the 'jumpy-thing', too!' Then I laughed at her and walked away. Can you believe some people consider themselves RIDERS AND TALK THAT WAY?" F-girl then added for emphasis "(shakes head and walks away)"...
I know I didn't quote the story identically, but I believe I'm pretty spot-on in regard to what was written, because I read it over a number of times before, as politely as possible, I wrote to the girl who had posted the story.
I essentially told her that at 15, I too, sadly, probably would have acted in the same snobby manner as she had because I was INSECURE and that is what insecure young girls do--put down other young girls, very unfortunately. I wrote that the other girl was probably a horse lover who didn't have all the same access to lessons and such as she did, and it took a lot of courage for her to walk up to little miss school paper article and try to SHARE her love of horses and riding with the girl. I wroite that rather than worrying about being a GREAT RIDER, she should focus more on learning some humility and true HORSEMANSHIP, which involves TEACHING OTHERS who may not know as much, embracing what they do know, and being a damned kind human being! She will grow older and one day realize how little she knew at age 15 & probably (hopefully ) will wish she had been kinder to the other young girl and will feel rather low about the experience.
Finally, I wrote that instead if thinking highly of her re: the fact that her school interviewed her on riding for their paper, I felt sad that she could be so unkind to another unassuming horse-lover. I told her if my son ever acted snobbish rather than proud of his achievements I would readily school him on the difference just as I was trying to do with her...
Doubt it even made her think....I just felt AWFUL for the little rider who wanted to talk horses with another "rider". Ah, whatever. Just being overly sensitive again. Sorry so long, at the start I felt it was relevant. Hope it was a bit so!
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