The curse of the forward: daring to be different

Some people love to send forwards. Other people (such as myself) hate to receive them, but regardless, it seems all must be smitten with a terrible case of guilt when the touching, mushy forward is neglected or worse: deleted. Having read just about every possible plea and command at end of a forward (if you love God send this on, send this to ten people within the next two minutes and you’re wish will come true, etc. etc.) I have learned to simply snicker cruelly and promptly delete it… but other, more unfortunate people, it seems, cannot escape the curse of the forward.

Take Barney of the Andy Griffith show. One day he received a forward by snail mail (I didn’t know they actually did that back then!) and then proceeded to be overcome by a terrible sense of guilt, should he throw away the cute letter which clearly stated the disadvantages of discontinuing the chain. He was convinced to throw away the letter, but spent the rest of the show being smitten by a series unfortunate of events until he finally broke down and searched for the letter in the junk yard.

Why is it that Americans are so impressionable that simple things have turned into a matter of “who you are”? Are you a cool, caring, good Christian? Better send the letter. Or are you fashionable and worth pursuing? Well then, you better spend the rest of your allowance on that flimsy jacket. It’s another example of not thinking “outside the box”: which is just what the liberal politicians, public school teachers and salespeople want. The more people are scared into following the crowd, the easier it is for the wrong people to lead us.

Take it from me; dare to be different. Don’t send the forward.