Please Be Patient

My last column sparked a lot of controversy, a lot of unwarranted attacks on my character, etc. throughout the internet. However, it also sparked a lot of reasonable criticisms, defenses, and questions about some of the ideas expressed and my reasons for writing. I will be addressing your concerns, however I beg your patience.
First, I wanted to give myself time to process all of your criticisms before responding. I have been culling them from all over the internet and am prepared to give answers that (while they will not satisfy everyone) may be able to at least bring the discussion to a reasonable level so that we can (hopefully) talk to rather than at each other.
Normally, I would be engaging in the debate on Raw's comment forum. At the beginning, this is what I had intended. Unfortunately, as I responded to a few of your very good comments, I became deluged with people who had no intention of engaging in reasonable discussion and instead attacked me for having the gall to respond at all. I was a bit overwhelmed by the response and chose to wait rather than try to fish out the reasonable debate from the ad hominem attacks on the fly.
My apology, issued with sincerity after reading many of your amazing comments on Raw and other sites, was also attacked by those who were confident I was not sincere. There is no way for any person to prove sincerity over the internet, so I won't try. However, I will be responding to many if not all of your questions soon, including a bit about how I pick my topics and why this one in particular.
Today, I'll be celebrating my 30th birthday, so I'm giving myself the evening off to breathe, relax, reflect, and have a few much-needed beers. I'm aiming for my first posting tomorrow.

Until then,
Shalom Aleichem
And may the Flying Spaghetti Monster keep you safe,
Melinda Barton