I Finally Have An Unhappy Childhood

It seems that the story of my childhood is not that common. I didn’t have a dysfunctional family; I grew up with loving & supportive parents that gave me every advantage. They both were working professionals & we were lucky enough to have a really nice house, a lake cabin, & cars. We took vacations & visited my grandparents, who were equally as loving. My parents paid for music lessons, dance class & art lessons &amp, laid out money for 4 years of private university education. They came to see all my plays & concerts. My parents gave me all the tools to become a model gay man in the new millenium. I have continue to enjoy their good humor & their company.

Last Sunday, my parents forwarded an email with the heading- “Warning!”. The text stated that it was important that everyone watch a Fox News special that would reveal the truth about our President being a Marxist. I should have just deleted it., but I was so outraged & weary of people claiming that Mr. Obama is a Marxist, socialist, Nazi, & foreign born that I fired off a reply that stated “if any of you think that our President is a Marxist, you are truly nutty & probably racist, & if you let Sean Hannity & Fox News make your political decisions for you, then you are not just nutty, you are stupid & lazy… do any of you actually know what Marxism is?.” This set off a series of responses to me from the people in the email group saying mean & hateful things about me & my views. One person said that my response was “typical of someone that acts like a cornered animal”. I would respond with comments such as –“I don’t know why my smart & loving parents would know or associate with people like you”. My parents later emailed & stated that they were hurt & dismayed by the emails & that my father thinks I have called him stupid, my mother has been crying & that I am “tearing apart the fabric of our family”. Now I feel terrible for hurting my parents, but if I am forwarded an email like this, am I not allowed to respond? I apologized to my parents, who have not acknowledged the apology. They are apparently not speaking to me. Now in my deep middle-age, I finally have a dysfunctional family.