Yes, this is related to my last article.

When the latest incident here at JoeUser occured, I feel that there were a number of people who wrongly perceived my fence sitting as being selfishly motivated. It was not selfishly motivated, but in fact, came about because I am simply sick and tired of being ripped apart.

It's not just here at JU; that's only a part of it. It's everywhere. As I mentioned in one of the previous articles on the subject, the minister of the church we have been attending and my fire chief have a long standing feud, and I am caught in the middle between a man I consider my friend and someone upon whom my loyalty is directly tied to my performance as a firefighter and soon to be first responder. This feud goes back to before I even heard of the existence of our small town and doesn't concern me; yet, there is a constant push from both sides for me to take sides on the issue.

Add to that the fact that our small town is literally torn apart by the factions from the two predominant churches, and, in fact, a split between members of the larger church. Each absolutely detests anything presented by another faction, and the arguments spill over into council decisions, fire meetings, Lions club meetings, and virtually every situation where two or more of our citizens have contact. As a result, we have no marshall, have been deprived of several grants that could have improved the standard of life and fiscal position of our town, and many families avoid the conflict in the church altogether by refusing to attend the churches in town.

Then there is my work as an advocate. There are two factions there, and they have no quarter, no room for compromise. Each is convinced of the rightness of his idea to the exclusion of others, and as a result, every question is met with a debate on the merits of each's position.

The common denominator of all of these conflicts is that I see validity to virtually all of the arguments presented. I believe there's room for compromise and not an "all or nothing" position. On this site, for instance, I was accused of cheerleading Brad, when, in fact, my comments were empathy for the exhaustion he expressed, something I have known quite a lot of, and for the work he has done to build his company. They were not an expression of solidarity for his decisions as an administrator.

My loyalty to Brad is based on the fact that I am appreciative for what he has done both in the creation of JoeUser and in improving my abilities as a writer. All I have to do is go back to the articles I wrote in my first few months at JU and the articles I've written in the past few weeks, and I see a substantial difference. There is an enhanced professionalism, I am more assertive in backing up my positions, and, as a result, I've become better educated as to the facts. I'm a better researcher, a more competent and confident person because of that, and I have no doubt this will have a serious positive effect on my personal life.

But that loyalty doesn't mean I don't have loyalty to Sabrina and Simon. In fact, since the idea was blown, I have no problem in stating that the reason I tried to sit on the fence is because I hoped it would blow over and Simon would eventually be reinstated. I didn't feel that adding gasoline to the fire would help that cause very much. Now, of course, there will be people who don't believe this at all, but frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn!

I am tired of being torn apart, tired of being forced to choose sides in everything. It's petty and juvenile, and I'd hope as adults we are above it. But if we're not, so be it. Just be careful, though, you may not like the side I choose.