by Dorothy Denne
That title refers to my ego as when the little first grade boy said, “Mrs. Denne, you always look so pretty when you come to work.”
Then I smiled but before I could say thank you he added, “But you don’t look so good this morning.” That was many years ago. My ol’ ego has taken many trips up and down since then, some just as fast, some a little longer.
A recent example started a couple of weeks ago when I wrote a column about my ironing board and remembering Gregg shorthand. That prompted a couple of really nice letters, one to me and one to the editor. They were very complimentry and my ego was definitely up.
Then the editor received another letter, about the same column, from an individual who only used the initial C. as a first name. The ol’ ego was in danger!
He/she said I should be replaced. He/she said I write nonsense and my column is “a total waste of time and complete silliness” and that I “ramble on about absolutely nothing important and it is not even funny.”
He/she was not being nice. He/she was being mean-spirited. He/she’s letter should have given me an ego down.
Silly me, it actually gave me a chuckle. See, he/she referred to me as Dorothy DEVINE. I think that is funny. Do you think maybe that was a kind of “Freudian” slip?
The editor put a halo on my picture and wrote a response that definitely gave me an ego up. What nice things he said.
Thank you Terry for saying them. And, thank you to all the others who also sent positive responses following that–in e-mails, notes and a phone call. As I think most people feel, I do prefer to be liked. But, you know, there are a few people who when they say they don’t like me, I consider it a compliment.
Add a comment
