Heartless?

I just received another of "those" emails. This one was titled "If you don't forward this, you don't have a heart."

I apparently do not have a heart; because even if I read the message and was moved by it, with a heading like that, I refuse to forward it.

This particular message was a heart-tugging story alleging that a baby was severly burned and that each time the email was forwarded the parents would receive three cents. A picture was attached. Nice touch.

A quick check on snopes.com separated fact from fiction in this story. Indeed a baby had been severly burned; hence the picture. The three cents her parents would pocket, however, was just plain made up.

Now, it is bad enough that people foward these things without taking the twenty seconds it took me to find out it was a urban legend. In my estimation it is far worse to title such an email "If you don't forward this, you don't have a heart."

On the other hand, that is indicative of the climate in which we live. "If you don't see things exactly the way I do, you must be evil at worst and an idiot at best."

It does not help matters that too often Christians are among the worst at this practice: “If you don’t agree with my particular list of religious assertions, you must be going to hell.”

Stop the hate. If you would like me to read something and forward it, just ask.