I am very lucky that I do not take my shortcomings seriously when it comes to spelling and punctuation. There was a time when someone publically corrected my spelling in a group forum, and it hurt me so badly that I cried all night.

I had written this charming story about helping a young pastor to overcome his fear of singing in public.

The next morning I was reading all of the kind comments from people who enjoyed the story when I came across a comment that said. “F@#@ A$$ wipe! Learn how to spell! It’s Pastor not PASTURE!”

Over twenty years later, retelling it makes me feel the need to place us both in a Full Court of Atonement. (done) Back then, I did not have this tool.

I remember clearly, autocorrect asking me to pick between two similar-sounding nouns “Pasture and Pastor” I remember seeing it and laughing as they did not seem silimar to me.

I could have sworn that I had chosen Pastor.

I still feel betrayed by the autocorrect because I already had written it correctly!  ( I just called an FCOA again for this)

This man’s rude comment could have easily been the very end of  my writing career because I was CRUSHED!!!

The only reason that I can write these emails (and these booklets) is that I have faced what hurt me and chose not to let it stop me. It was a choice… He wins or I win? Which one do I choose?

The next morning I wrote back to the person who had corrected me. I said in rebuttal to his comment. “ownly uh tru genous kan rite aye onederful storee. Eny ideot kan edet itt!”

My cleverness put a laugh back in my broken heart and I began to feel somewhat better. A few days later, I went to visit a friend when I noticed that he had printed out my comment and posted it on his wall.

He said, “This was the best comeback I’ve ever seen.”

In my class “the Need for Retaliation.” I said that the difference between Revenge and Retaliation is this: Revenge lashes out blindly to do the most damage, while Retaliation is a calculated, preemptive strike meant to put a stop to the situation.

My miss-spelled comment was Retaliation. He never said another word in that group.

If you have a situation that is gnawing at you that you need to put a stop to, try using the Resolution of Needs for Completion.

I place myself, ____________ into a Full Court of Atonement for the purpose of Resolution of Needs for Completion.