The Best Revenge

I'm not going to add more eloquent comment to the paragraphs of outrage that have already been scribbled in response to Julie Myerson's expose of her son's cannabis (or skunk) use. Neither am I going to pose new questions about how writers get their material and, whether children, lovers and or personal experiences are off limits.

You see, I'm not one for complaining because most of what I write comes from personal experience. Okay so it's cobbled together from this and that, bit of tall tale'ling here and there and the odd unmaterialised fantasy lived out. But generally, it's all got some basis in fact. So when it comes to the Myerson issue, my strong view is that the natural urge that some families have to excuse and or cover up the sins of their nearest and dearest is wrong.
I have millions of friends and relatives who have done things that shame me and I hope that I will never (ever) cover up or make them feel any modicum of comfort at their bad behaviour.
The misguided notion that parents should not speak out against their childrens' bad behaviour is responsible for many a ruined over indulged individual who goes through life leaving destruction and heartbreak in his/her wake.

This topic provoked some debate on WW and as is always the case the discussion moved on...Someone said something about writing to 'get people back' and that got me thinking about the blogosphere. How many bitter bloggers resist the daily temptation to post a blog titled,
'You utter shit. What ever did I see in you? So glad I dumped you when I did'
...actually that's not such a bad......Hmmm...Oops! Where was I? Oh yes, WW...
So the conversation moved on to writing about difficult life events and then on to the risks of becoming consumed with bitterness...it was one of those lovely long threads. Then a wonderful writer gave me the inspiration for the title of today's post. Because yeah, life sucks sometimes but as tempting as it is to dedicate every blog post to one's enemies, which in my case would give me nothing at all to blog about....;), the best revenge, by a mile (as Simon would say), is living well. Just that. Smiling big and visualilng that nasty person as a tiny bubble of hot air that will, inevitably burst into the nothing they were always destined to be.