Ok I slapped someone and I feel bad

Yayfordoritos

The only reason she went with me was cause I didn't have a babysitter. Also you seem to be taking this really personal I didn't slap you.

tahayassen

An atheist meeting? This sounds like some troll from reddit.

lisab

I understand the fierce she-wolf reaction when something unfair happens to your kid. Really, I totally, totally get that - I'm the mother of a daughter.

But let's examine what could have happened, or what may have already happened:

• You now have a reputation as someone who is unbalanced and unstable. This could cost you in terms of future friends, study buddies, job opportunities, etc. This may have already happened, who knows.
  
• The woman you slapped could have been a way better fighter than you, and totally kicked your @ss.
  
• The woman you slapped knows someone who is a way better fighter than you, and has arranged for you to be jumped. That may have already happened, too.
  
• The woman could have decided to call the cops, and press charges. You are immediately arrested for assault and taken to jail. If you can't reach a family member or friend (I think you're given maybe one call?), your daughter is taken into state custody -- a foster family until your kin can be contacted. What a horrific thing to put your daughter through! Oh and guess what, that may be happening this minute.

Come on, you are an *adult* and a mother.

HomogenousCow

What.what the hell is this??

dkotschessaa

Weirdest PF thread ever?

Seriously, to the Original Poster, you should do everything you can to find the woman and apologize. Tell your daughter about it too, and that you were wrong. This is bad karma, if you can take it in the non-religious sense...

dkotschessaa

BTW, I don't see any problems with atheists meeting and I find some of the remarks a tad discourteous. There are are a lot of issues relevant to atheists that go beyond just "believing in imaginary things," many of which relate directly to the respectability of science, education, and so forth. Just IMO and perhaps slightly off topic.

Pythagorean

I'm not so sure you have to include a discussion on (a)theism in those subjects dkot. There are weirdo fundamentalists to whom those things are mutually exclusive, sure, but you're just being an extremist on the other side if you agree with their mutual exclusivity.

Most people manage just fine with theism, science, and education. The extremists just get all the headlines.

Anyway, I try to avoid even saying words like "imaginary friend" to theists. I think it's condescending. Let people believe what they want as long as they are not trying to force their beliefs on me through policy or significant social discomfort.

dkotschessaa

Of course not. My point is that there are legitimate reasons for non-thestic types to gather, just as there are reasons for theists.

Mutual exclusivity is a whole other neverending-thread-that-eventually-gets-closed thing I would rather not start.



What might be relevant here, is that the OPs daughter quite possibly will associate violence with atheism, which is a great backwards step.

-Dave K

tahayassen

Looking at you Evo.

Evo

Explain? If you're referring to the worship of "supernatural beings", it's just the simple truth. See the definition of "supernatural".

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supernatural

Do you disagree with the dictionary?

gabbagabbahey

I don't want to condone violence, but this seems to be much ado about nothing.

In my opinion, you reacted poorly and resorted to violence when there was likely a better way of handling things. It sounds as though the consequences in this case are not too severe (being unable to attend Atheist meetings seems much less severe to me than some more common responses to violence, such as escalated violence in return or criminal charges). I'd suggest you simply apologize to the person you slapped, and explain to them why you did it (but don't get your hopes too high for a kind response), and tell your daughter that you shouldn't have reacted with violence even though you beleive that the woman you slapped said something very innapropriate and insulting.

You made a mistake - accept the consequences, try to learn from it, and move on. Presumably, you are an adult, and so you should be no stranger to this process by now.