Sunday links: I get feedback

Pop quiz: What is the opposite of standing?

On Thursday, I was walking my dog when a text message pinged on my phone. It was a very long text from an unknown number all about this man’s divorce. And it was a man. And in his text, he told me he identified with my writing because he was the one who felt taken advantage of in his marriage. It’s not worth parsing out the details. But he called this woman a narcissist. And insisted he was the good one. The great one. The misunderstood one.

And I was stunned. Who was this random person using my phone number to complain about something so personal? After a series of questions, it ended up being someone whom I was supposed to work with professionally, but for reasons, I don’t remember, didn’t work out. And this person, years later, took it upon themselves to make me their confidant and confessor.

It’s unprofessional at the least. And misogynistic at the most. No man would text message another man out of the blue to make them their therapist because of something they wrote.