Jealousy? Sexism? Racism? Ageism? What?

One poster at this site has raised the "question" of whether I am one of those old white men who are arrogant because I have married a young Chinese woman, who is using me for a plane ticket.

Nope. I was arrogant way before that. And my wife is arrogant,too. When I first met her, that was one of the first things she told me.

But a little arrogance is not necessarily a bad thing. The world is a much safer world with the elimination of the Soviet nuclear threat, which took a lot of arrogance actually by Ronald Reagan to make happen.

But, back to my wife and me. The poster may be jealous. I don't know. Only he knows that.

But, why this post at all? Why would he say such a thing at an ESL forum?

Well, one reason I suspect was to upset me and encourage others to do so. Maybe, that was his purpose. Again, only he knows for sure.

Yes, I am easily riled. I admit that. But this goes beyond what I view as acceptable. His comments are racist - that the only reason he can think of that my wife and I would get married is because she wants a plane ticket out. This is a racist comment. That the Chinese woman - and he has actually broadened that even further to include all Asian women - is somehow willing to sacrifice her single life and love life to marry a man simply to leave China. This is such a racist coment.

It's also sexist. He doesn't entertain the idea of men doing the same thing. Only women - and only Asian women - would do this.

And he is ageist as well. Only "old" white men would entertain this idea - not young men.

The comments that he made he might say don't take them so seriously. He has impugned the marriage vows of love that my wife and I have made and have done everything in our power to live up to. I love my wife and she loves me.

If you think I am overreacting, you are certainly entitled to think so. But, those of you who are married, how do you react when your spouse and you are attacked?

Probably a lot like I am doing. Maybe, you would react this way and keep it to yourself. That's not my nature. Someone attacks me, I respond.

But, notice that even under this provocation, I am sticking simply to the facts of his post and placing a logical interpretation on them.

I hope that all such personal attacks will cease.