Things go awry quickly, don't they?

I am not in a good mood today. I didn't start out that way, it was a decent morning. I would be playing golf, I awoke without aches or pain, coffee was ready. But things went rapidly south. I received an email from someone who, as he is wont to do, was a bit condescending. I don't normally get bugged by this. After all, he is educated, has a law degree, and is a fairly smart guy. I expect such people to have at least a small sense of superiority.

But this is politics and politics get emotional and then egos get bruised. I am not a highly educated man. I went through high school by ignoring it as much as possible. I took about 4 semesters of college courses at a couple of junior colleges. Nothing about that is intellectually demanding. It bored me. So my knowledge, such as it is, is based on what I read, my native intelligence and my ability to absorb information. Still, I have an ego and I have opinions. And these opinions are based on fairly careful observation. I know that I have prejudices and that I have core beliefs which can influence my judgment so I try extremely hard to analyze my opinions as I form them. I try not to let my prejudices nor my core beliefs influence these opinions. I am not always successful but I try and most of the time I succeed.

I made the mistake of reading that email before I left for the golf course. I made a bigger mistake by replying to it when I did not have the time to do it properly.

In return, I got words like this:

You're a far brighter guy than I am. You seem to know things, with some degree of certainty, which I do not know. You seem to have the answers.

Followed by words that essentially framed the above as sarcasm. I could be wrong but this was the second time this sentiment was expressed in this manner. I don't have answers, I have opinions. They may be right, they may be wrong. But they are my opinions. If you think they are wrong, tell me why. If you cannot, then acknowledge that they exist and do some research to bolster an argument against them. Do not dismiss them with snarky comments.

I don't like it and I won't put up with it.

And though I played up to my handicap, I did not enjoy my round of golf this morning. I had expected better from that, too.