A Different Amtrak Story

I was looking into the recent Amtrak situation, using a Google news search, and I came across an editorial in the Washington Post by a regular Amtrak rider. It seems she experienced a loud, crowded unpleasant trip, complete with people eating and talking on cell phones. Surprising, no?

The kicker is that her final complaint - the apex of her indignant rant - was that the dorito eating woman next to her "pulled out a syringe, lifted her shirt, and gave herself a dosage."

After I put the pieces of my exploded head back together, I began to read through comments to see if my response had already been given. And that is when things got scary. Lovely comments about eating our way to diabetes, taking ourselves to the (oh so pristine) train bathroom to inject, and not inconveniencing people with our problems.

I guess it's good to be reminded once in a while just what some in the general public thinks of people with diabetes. And there were plenty of good rebuttals in the comments. But it was a bit shocking to read some of the feedback. I was going to copy some of the most obnoxious quotes, but rather than give more press to assinine comments, here are some of my favorite comebacks:

"...if you didn't like seeing her inject herself, then DON'T LOOK! Excuse me as I'm now off to a stall in the men's room to take an asprin."

"I were a diabetic having to do 5-10 shots a day and somebody asked me one of those questions, I believe my standard reply would be: I'm sorry. This is my allergy shot. I'm deathly allergic to people who can't mind their own #@$%^&* business."

and the coup-de-resistance (I had to go look up this word)...

"exactly how does taking an injection impede on your personal space, you self-righteous troglodyte?

maybe amtrak could charge $20 for the privilege of not dying from hypoglycemia and shielding your delicate eyes."

We public self-injecters are a funny lot!

edited to add: And my readers are a delightfully sarcastic bunch. No wonder we get along so well!