Ripping out the stuffings: an unexpected fan letter

Background.  Last year, I took a picture of an old waterwheel along Route 9N in Saratoga Springs.   I blogged about it, posted the pictures, and that was it.  It was a nice picture, I figured it would be a good choice for competition season, but in the end I just left it as a story in the blog and went on to other pictures in my arsenal.  There were some kind words about the photos, and I sent copies of the pictures to the family whose patriarch initially built the waterwheel (I had originally thought it was part of an old farm or mill, but one of the family members let me know of the wheel’s true origins).

Okay, let’s jump back to the present.  A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail to my personal account.  The subject line – “water wheel.”  Okay, maybe someone saw my old blog post and had a question about the old wooden wheel or something.  Fine.  I’ve had a few rough things happen to me lately, so a kind word about one of my old photos would be a nice pick-me-up.

I opened the e-mail.

How ing dare you. You take pics of a good man’s hard work for your own benefit and profit. Be happy you met with my cousin … for I would have thrown you off the property.  At a minimum you owe this family the bare minimum and history of this water wheel.
Show some damn respect as … lies in Saratoga hospital dying from kidney failure.

The e-mail also contained a blurry, undated, unreadable newspaper photo of the waterwheel.

Wow.

I’m still trying to process this.  If you read the original blog post, I asked – and received permission – to photograph the water wheel.  I also sent pictures of the water wheel to the family after I transferred the digital images to a CD.  I never sold photos of the water wheel, I never entered the pictures in competition, in fact I had completely forgotten about the pictures…

Until I received this letter.

Now I’m not here to shame whoever wrote this e-mail to me, which is why I redacted certain information in the sender’s letter.  I also removed one barnyard expletive.  But the rest of the content is still there.

Now maybe someone got the wrong impression about what I was doing there.  But let me state clearly and for the record.

I can understand the anger.  But I don’t think that it’s because I took that photo.

I think it’s because the creator of the water wheel is in the hospital and is in the final days of time with his family and friends.  And in those moments, emotions will tear through anybody and everybody.  This isn’t about the water wheel so much as it is about the man who built it.

Believe me, I’ve dealt with this.  I understand that there is grief and tears and anger in these moments.  We all want one last chance to be with our loved ones.  One last “I miss you.”  One last “I love you.”  One last “please don’t go.”

And when we can’t have this, we lash out.  We find some straw man and rip out his stuffings.

And I say to the family of the man who built this water wheel – I am terribly sorry for what you are going through right now.  I am sure he was a good man and a good father and grandfather and support and coach and everything.  If you are a member of the family, please take a moment and tell your stories in the blog comments section below.  Let everybody know about what this man meant to you and what that water wheel symbolizes in your family’s life and history.

Because I’m not the kind of person who wants to make people angry over a measly little photograph.  Life is too short for that.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find all the hay and straw that was once in my chest cavity.