Every once in a while I clean out the spam folder for our blog. Usually I do so quickly and without reservation, because the purported comments are in a foreign language, or suggest porn websites, or otherwise are wholly irrelevant to anything on our little blog.
Today, however, there was a spam comment that touched my heartstrings. In a non sequitur response to a wholly random post, it read: “I know this is a off topic but i wanna share you about skin care. Acne can cause depression and embarrassment. This can be due to acne scars left on the face or perhaps in any area affected. This might be due to wrong treatment or lack of treatment. It’s usually advised to remedy acne instantly to prevent severe acne problems. This could also avoid spending more money, effort and time to get the desired result from treatments.”
My first reaction was defensive. Of all blogs, why is this acne ad being sent here? Do I have some kind of lingering, post-high school reputation for having a bad complexion?
Then I thought: How true! Let’s face it, acne blows! If you were a kid a who had acne during high school, you know how it made your life a living hell. You dreaded being called pizza face, and spent hours in front of the bathroom mirror, applying the Clearasil or other off-the-shelf remedy and hoping that the Zit God would grant your prayers and leave your skin clean and fresh as a baby’s for the high school prom. Of course, that didn’t happen. We went to the prom, zits and all, and hoped that our date wouldn’t care and that airbrushing would take care of our imperfections in our senior class photo.
For most of us, acne ended with adolescence. Just think of how it would suck to have raw, bursting pimples as an adult! And that’s why I couldn’t just cold-heartedly delete the spam. If you’ve got adult acne, for God’s sake — get help! No one should have to deal with the insecurities of high school more than once.
