Dean and I just enjoyed breakfast together, and in the middle of it, I let him send a nonsensical tweet in relpy to some stranger's cat's nonsensical tweet — the hope being that they get the joke, and we put a smile on someone's face. We do not delude ourselves that the world is a cuddly place full of rainbows, cookies and unicorns.

But when I run across a good question a from stranger, I do take that seriously and try to help them. I recently wrote an essay to help a girl who had led me to believe she needed some help, encouragement, and guidance. Believing she had escaped the open air gulag that is North Korea, I was pretty shaken and reminded of the damage that life in Stasi-controlled East Germany had done to me and my people.

Turns out she was a liar and playing a practical joke on Dean and me. I first shrugged it off, but then it hit me, and I did have to admit that I was hurt and upset. Yes, I was hurt, and it would be wrong to not admit this.

But this is not going to stop me. If anything, people like this jerk will keep me sharp. They will keep me fighting an educational system that turns young people into bigotted minions who hate Western Civilization and cannot think far ahead enough to not damage others. Who shit on their heritage before they learn to appreciate anything. Who demand socialism without being able to see that they will not have an iPhone or freedom of speech or anything much at all in a socialist paradise.

All that these jerks are achieving is to sharpen my perception and my sense of smell. There will always be some jerk who can make you drop everything you do and work your ass off to contact the police department because they tricked you into believing they were about to committ suicide. But there will also always be somebody who really needs help and will be grateful if you care. There will always be somebody who is sitting on a fence, or just about to wake up from their indoctrination. There will always be somebody who actually needs help, who will one day be able to say thank you, and pay it forward. And it's those people that are important.