PUBLIC APOLOGY TO ELEGANT BELINDA

A long time ago on a similar board that has since gone away, I wrote something in a forum discussion that upset Belinda greatly. I was registered on a website she used to promote herself. As a result I received mass emails that went out to all her fans of which I was definitely one. I received one such email that informed all her fans of a change in the way she dealt with local clients. A few days later I repeated this in a discussion forum. I did not think it was private since it was sent to me as a part of a mass email. At any rate, this upset Belinda quite a bit and she let me know in no uncertain terms in a reply on the same forum. I got defensive and we began tossing angry messages back and forth publicly. When it was all over there was harsh feelings. I decided to let it go and I assume she did too. We did not communicate for months. When we did, apparently there was still harsh feelings and Belinda requested a public apology. I was still being stubborn and bull-headed and put it off. Then I returned to work in the Middle East and simply forgot about it. At any rate, the entire mess was indeed my fault. Looking back, the root cause still comes back to me repeating something that was not up to me to repeat. So it was entirely my bad. She asked for an apology and she is entitled to it. I am sure she will never speak to me (still) and that too is something she is entitled to do. I understand completely. But in an effort to clean up bad kharma - I am still obligated to take responsibility for my own mess ups. Belinda, I am truly sorry. It was my bad and I understand why you were angry. I know this apology is very late and you probably do not understand why a man sitting in the middle of Herat Afghanistan and will not be in Mississippi again for a very long time would care enough to send this but again, kharma is a crazy thing. I am 47 years old and I have a handful of bad kharma I need to do something about before it is to late.

Apology accePted and I'm sorry for being an ass. If u ever need anything don't hesitate to ask and again I am sorry for ur loss

Thank you. You were not being the ass at all. You were justifiably upset. The info I put out was not mine to put out however benign I thought it was. It was yours to say or not say. I was the ass. If I had put a few moments thought into that post before sending it I would not have. And I was being a typical "guy" about not simply saying I was wrong in the first place. You came unhinged and I deserved it. And thanks for the closing comments, considering my screw-up I'm just glad you accepted the apology and will speak to me. The times we communicated you were always very nice. Despite all the scheduling problems I always had - you have no idea how much I REALLY wanted to meet you. I'm sure it did not seem that way since something always got in the way but I did. At any rate, thanks again. It was sweet of you to accept my apology.

It is great to see two very big people -- one to apoligize and one to accept.

I stew on things as that is part of me (can't help the Asian stubbornness) but I get over shit eventually

As you know - my wife of 15 years is Asian too (Thai). She has become very westernized about that since I brought her here in 2003. She CLAIMS not to stew over things. But like an all American girl - she does. I can do something to piss her off and 4 days later she is still giving me the evil eye. When I ask her if she is still pissed off about....whatever. She says, "No, everything is fine. I forgot all about that dah-ring.......now go to sreep." (Yes, that was my attempt to transcribe a Thai accent.). When I first married her and we were still living in Thailand she forgot things like a guy. "I'm sorry. Are we cool?" "Yep, everything's good." And everything would be. LOL

With regards to this situation - If I had not been so bull-headed about it I would have simply apologized a long time ago as I should have and all of this would barely be a memory.