Garden Party

...is the classic song by dead too young Ricky Nelson, in which he recounted appearing at a concert at MSG and got booed, since the crowd was expecting the clean cut early 60s star and instead heard a grown up, hippie, country rock singer.  The message is one of my favorites: "It's all right now, I've learned my lesson well...you see you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself."

That lesson hit home yesterday for my beloved D1.  Wifey, the classic stage mother, sends D1's nutrition blog to as many email addressees as she can.  Apparently one was sent to an aging Cardiology Assistant professor at the U, and he took issue with one of D1's suggested menu items -- the fresh for St. Paddy's Day "Leprechaun Omelette."  The dish has spinach, to make it green, of course, as well as feta cheese.

Well the good doc, who I'll call Carl, since that's his name, was highly offended.  He wrote D1, who he's never met, a nasty email.  He began by listing his many academic titles and credentials, and then said he was "disheartened" that anyone who cared about health would ever recommend a breakfast with eggs like that -- eggs are, to him, essentially poison, as they have cholesterol.  My favorite part is his word choice -- he shall forever more be known, to the extent we talk about him, as the Disheartened Cardiologist.

Well, D1 was livid.  I told her I needed more data before weighing in on this kerfuffle -- so I went to my brother Eric, who happens to be the most brilliant Cardiologist there is.  Nah, Eric said -- Carl was off by a decade or two -- modern research shows eggs are fine, in moderation. The state of the art view is that fat, with carbs, turn into bad cholesterol. Dr. Carl was angry based on circa 1980s research.

So D1 is right, clearly, and the self proclaimed super genius is wrong.  And, the way he wrote to my girl shows he's a prick.  He's also old AF, as the millennials are wont to say.

But this will not escalate. I advised D1 to write back, most obsequiously, and say she was flattered that a man of such lofty medical position would even take the time to read, and even comment, on her blog.  But, she will write, the basis of her recommending the  now libeled Leprechaun Omelette is current food science.

Wifey suggested D1 send the fellow a carton of eggs, with happy faces painted on them, and a note "We are your friends.  Do not hate us."  I think D1 will refrain from that.

But of course the real issue is Ricky Nelson's message.  When you put your thoughts and opinions out there, you become a public writer, and readers get to send in, essentially, letters to the editor.  You need a thick skin.  D1 is developing one.

So this will just go down as another little dust up in our world.  But I may, in fact, steal Dr. Carl's verbiage, and write a children's book geared to future health care providers.  My message will be -- don't be a self important asshole.  If you take issue with someone's advice, be nice and classy.  Invite debate.  Don't talk of your own brilliance and then take shots.  The book will, of course, be titled "The Disheartened Cardiologist."