Wednesday, October 31, 2012

On the fly decisions

Two posts in a day.  Which is probably 1.75 posts too many.

But I would like to acknowledge and apologize to those who I offended in the last post. 

This morning, I thought writing about the NYC marathon would be an interesting topic because it seemed like such a hot button issue in the running community.  I thought it would make for a post that would generate discussion.

But in many ways my words came off as insensitive and uninformed.  It was not my intention to hurt anyone, but I clearly did.

Something I'm still learning is that this blog is a public forum and that expressing off the cuff ideas can be irresponsible.   And sometimes, I just have too big of a mouth.   Often actually :).

In the words of Anthony:  "It's probably better to stay away from disasters unless it is to acknowledge it was terrible."  Word.

So.  Please accept my apology. 

18 comments:

  1. None necessary! I thought it was well-written, and for the most part people seemed to agree with you...

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    1. Agreed! I thought it was well-written -- even though I didn't necessarily agree with you! :-)

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  2. Don't let them bug you. It is my opinion that your post was honest and polite. It was your thoughts. We'll always disagree with someone; don't let that make you feel like you are wrong or need to apologize for your thoughts being different than another's. I can see apologizing for delivery if it had been tacky but I don't see that as the case here.

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    1. I don't think it was necessary for an apology :) Your personal opinion, is your own. It's a very sensitive topic but I think you worded it very politely!

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  4. I don't think you owed anyone an apology at all. What you wrote was your opinion and I think that some people took that way out of context.

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  5. Its your blog and you can say or discuss whatever you want on it. Your opinion is your own. You should be made to feel like you need to apologize. The truth is that running the marathon will be GOOD for New York and the relief efforts.

    The Kidless Kronicles

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  6. I am with you! I'm a Katrina survivor turned New Yorker who is running this marathon as long as it's still on!

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  7. You are way too nice. I don't think you owed an apology. It was your opinion.

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  8. I agree with others who have commented on this point - this is your blog and you shouldn't be sorry for your opinion! Not to mention you expressed your opinion very tactfully and respectfully.

    I hope you have a great run in New York and that holding the marathon helps to lift the spirits of everyone in the city as they continue to recover.

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  9. I really enjoyed reading all of the comments on your last post. People brought up some great points pro and con that I had never thought of! I thought it was a geat discussion. I thought your post was well delivered and very interesting! No apology needed :)

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  10. You don't need to apologize! Having a blog is mostly about your opinion and if people don't like it then they shouldn't read it! lol

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  11. Don't apologize....people take shit WAY to seriously on the internet and then spend way too much time talking about it on forums. We know you are a good person. :)

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  12. My little bunny......this "apology" just shows how genuine and caring you are, that you felt bad about your very very reasonable and level-headed post before. Those of us lucky to know you are very lucky indeed! If I had a blog I would start the "most harmless blogger ever" award and give it to you :D.

    So ditto to the others, no need for apology, you are really sweet to do it anyways.

    Although I do somewhat disagree with the idea that when it's someone's own blog they can say what they want....there is SO much insane stuff on the interwebs and horrible things too, even if it's someone own "corner of the internet" probably some stuff shouldn't be said (example comes to my mind- creepy horrible things on Reddit...). But anyways that's never here nor there cause even anything anyone grumbles about Sandy vs NYCM is rainbows and ponies compared to that creepy stuff.

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  13. I liked what you had to say. My Dad is a NYS police officer and he has said he would appreciate a break from relief efforts to work the marathon. He's still got to work, but sometimes they need an emotional break from the sadness and destruction. For the record, in case this makes him seem callous, he was on the Ground Zero cleanup crew for the entire time and said the same thing then.

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  14. Margot, dear Margot! No need to retract. It's okay that you wrote your perspective--which clearly stated that you were open to change your mind or learn further information--and it's okay that people disagreed. If you upset anyone, it is understandable that they may be struggling/watching others struggle and are either too stressed out to calmly disagree or are angry/afraid of the lack of attention that their troubles are receiving.

    But you didn't hurt anyone with your words, you got an interesting conversation going, and you shared some valid thoughts. No regrets for posting them.

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  15. I meant to respond to your initial post, but never got a chance to. So I'll respond here!

    You should not feel bad about what you wrote. Maybe I can say that because I agree 100%. I don't think you were insensitive. You were just expressing how you feel about the situation.

    I think people are looking at this in an unproductive way. "Not cancelling the marathon = not giving a shit about the people impacted by the hurricane". But I don't think that's true at all! If anything I think holding the marathon proves that people persevere even during hard times. Natural disasters happen. They are scary. They are sad. And this one was no different. People get shaken when things happen outside of their control, but hey, guess what people can control? Whether or not to put on a race! Putting on the race (like you said) would not take people away from helping out/volunteering for those in need. I remember reading a lot of articles/blogposts about how Japan responded to the devastating earthquake they had last year. And all of them had the same theme: perseverance. I found this blog post on it: http://thisjapaneselife.org/2011/03/15/japan-earthquake-work-disaster/

    Now I'm going to come off as insensitive, but I think our culture has a tendancy to wallow. A tendancy to obsess over disaster. We let things like this rule us! And why? I have found that the people MOST offended by others talking about putting on the marathon were not affected by the storm AT ALL. Isn't that backwards?

    The other side of this is that people are REALLY helping one another. Letting people who are displaced stay over in their homes. Giving them a place to charge their cellphones. There's this beautiful interconnectedness that's happening. That's productive!

    Anyway, that's enough of that. The hurricane sucked. It's going to cost a lot of money and a lot of manpower to get the city back up and running again, but people really are working together to making it happen. I don't see how putting on a race tarnishes that in any way shape or form.

    But I guess this doesn't matter now since now I hear the marathon IS cancelled. Which is a real bummer.

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    1. That's not to say that I think cancelling it was the wrong choice. I think they did what they had to given the circumstance.

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