Irony And Compassion

I am sitting here working on a fun little tree and deer vignette tonight and while I was waiting for the stain the base to dry I hopped onto one of the handmade sites forum to do the gab and get seen gig for a few minutes. I stumbled upon a thread a person had made to complain about people who complain. (Yes that is ironic isn't it!)

I read through part of it and posted a few replies trying to reason with her to give people the benefit of the doubt which fell on deaf ears or in the case of reading...deaf eyes I guess. I said it doesn't really bother me when people complain especially about lack of sales because I know they usually have a deeper reason behind those complaints over face value. We are all feeling a bit of a money crunch this year, and it's really effecting people who want to buy Christmas presents and do frivolous things like eat or pay the power bill. So it's easy to get frustrated and wonder why someone is doing better than you are when you know you have been working hard.

After I left the thread I was still thinking about it a bit. One of the main reasons that people don't sell well is because of the photographs of their items. But the truth is some people are just not born photographers. Or in others...like me for instance...we have old cameras and haven't been able to buy a new one that takes sharper pics. Refer back to those frivolous things we spend our money on like food and heat. Not only that but when it comes to the handmade world things rise and fall in popularity and sometimes people aren't in the right niche at the right time. But the one thing that struck me through out all the posts people made in the thread...it never seemed to occur to any of them to try to HELP the people who were complaining. All too often when people complain over something it's a cry for help that they don't know how to ask for.

Last night I saw another thread that a woman posted about wanting to make a blog chronicling her journey of being mentally handicapped and still being a successful business person. She wanted to know if people thought it was a good idea. I told her I thought it was a great idea, she could be an inspiration to many others and go a long way towards being accepted as a serious business woman. But most of the people in the thread said no don't do it, it's too controversial and people won't buy from you if they know this about you! Seriously that requires a few more exclamation marks!!!! Why on earth would someone not purchase something based on that? She is a human being like any other. For her it's not a controversial topic, it's a fact of her life. We all have our burdens to bear, they simply come in different forms. I looked to see what she was making, she had some amazing jewelry.

Sometimes I think we live in an odd world that has too much irony and not enough compassion.