I have received a challenge from Workin Man Mama a ways back, and finally got it together to respond. There are only 3 rules to this trophy.

1. Display the trophy in your post.

2. Write a short piece that starts with this: I did not kill _____ today. It does not have to be a person, it can be an appliance, a business or anything else you choose.

3. Nominate a few people to pass the trophy on to and let them know it's their turn to vent. (I nominate, Cut My Milk and Mommy_Massacre.)

So here goes.

I did not kill a troll named Jim today. He wasn't writing on my site or Facebook page. He wasn't even writing at a person or a blogger that I am fond of. It was a random publication’s page. First he said something incendiary and then he just started insulting everyone.

If Shallow Hal had seen Jim, Jim would have looked something like this.

After seeing him joyfully flinging crap at everyone who tried to reason with him, like a very bad monkey, I wanted him to sit down, shut up, open his mind, and stop being such a rude asshole. But I knew, intellectually, that it was a losing battle. I finally regressed to our true level of maturity and wrote "I know you are, but what am I? I'm a mirror, you're glue. What you say bounces off of me and sticks to you. nyah. : P ' '"

And I closed the browser tab.

Now the trick is NOT to go back and see what he replied. The trick is, and always was, not to care. The guy was not open to new ideas, and there would be no winning.

We each want to move a little bit closer to a utopian future, most of us, but people have dramatically different ideas of what that means. For some people, it means everyone making the same life choices, based on a common moral code or religion. For others, it means accommodating all the varied life choices that make people’s lives meaningful in their own ways. For some, it just means feeling personally valued and affirmed.

Every time we get a step closer to our own idea of this better world, it’s a little bit of a thrill. Seeing a study that confirms what you've thought, and seeing it published by a respectable news source and going viral can make you think we might take a step closer to a better world. Until someone with a different view comes slashing through with their fears a-blazing, screaming Slippery Slope! Slippery Slope!

How do we get to sleep at night, knowing how slowly things change for the better and how quickly things can change for the worse? We’re afraid of our own Slippery Slopes. If we give ground on guns or birth control or military spending or social programs or regulating free enterprise etc. etc. etc., we can see where it leads, where it could end.

History proves that the will of the strong can overpower the will of the weak, and it has again and again. It’s scary to think you might be seen as powerless in that situation. Many resort to insults and expressing extreme stances in order to push the line as far back as possible, to give themselves some breathing room.

Is someone else out there fighting the good fight for my utopia? I hope so, because the best part of my utopia is sleeping well. I won’t let the trolls take away from me, and it's late.

So Jim the Troll, bless your heart. I hope you feel happy and secure all the days of your life so you can stop acting like such a prick.