A food allergy friend (Debra Legg from 9t05to9) emailed me recently to tell me that she received a hit on her website from an interesting search.
The search was “Ruth Smith allergy complaining”
I immediately burst into laughter because I found it a bit amusing that one would be looking for all my allergy rants and complaints. I asked my husband if it were him. If it was, he didn’t admit to it.
I honestly thought I was the only one who googled myself, so I got to thinking about what someone would perceive as a complaint. I don’t really think of myself as a complainer so much as I do an advocate.
So I did what anyone would do and googled “Ruth Smith allergy complaining”
Honestly–I didn’t find anything too exciting. The original searcher must have been sorely disappointed.
What I did find was an old forgotten post titled
Reader Question: What to Bring to a No Food Birthday Party
I had forgotten about this article and the numerous comments I got roped into. My goal/quest/agenda has always been about education and awareness. I really honestly tried with this one. I’ll admit, some of my comments got pretty hot. Thankfully I knew enough to finally put an end to it and post my last post.
Wouldn’t you know that upon posting my last post I never returned to the article again and I never saw the following comment:
“Full disclosure: I initially came onto this site to find ideas that could possibly assist me in ‘fighting the no cupcakes (sweets) in the classroom rule’, and my child does not have any allergies *to my knowledge.”
“*Ruth – Of course you have an agenda, and I thank you for parting with your experiences and viewpoint because before I came onto this site it truly was just about a cupcake, and not about a child. So consider this a victory – if only a small one, each kid in my son’s class will be happy to receive a book and a pencil for his birthday this year.”
(If you’d like to read the full comment click on the title of the article above and scroll down to comment 63.)
So all I can say is wow-thank you anonymous searcher! I won’t argue over complaint versus advocacy. If it gets results, it gets results.
The kind friend (Debra) who originally sent me the email said:
“Personally, I’d wear such a search as a badge of honor.”
You know what, I think I will!
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