The rudeness of trolls

"Is it .... dead? No, I don't think so - just knocked out ..."
from Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone



Live by the sword and die by it, I suppose, but the rudeness of some internet trolls, particularly the anonymous or pseudonymous kind, can sometimes be hard to take, even if we pride ourselves in having developed the hide of a rhinoceros. 
Actually libellous examples of the art of 'trolling' - you know who you are - are, of course, routinely deleted, but it's always up to now been the policy here to allow most anonymous comments simply because there can be occasions when people have a very good reason for not wanting to declare their identities. 
I suppose what I really mean is we should - all - try to be more polite to one another, however sorely provoked we may consider ourselves to be ....  or however indignant we may feel in defence of others. The modern tendency towards vicarious victimhood isn't a sin, as such, but it's incredibly tiresome and leads us only into festering resentments.

There's a passage from Cardinal Seán O'Malley's recent homily after the Boston bombings which should resonate with us all... 

"...Like Christ our Good Shepherd, we who aspire to be Jesus’ disciples and to follow His way of life, we too must work to gather the scattered, to draw people into Christ’s community. It is in His Gospel that we find the answers to the questions of life and the challenging ideals that are part of discipleship; mercy, forgiveness, self sacrifice, service, justice and truth. ..."

If we can't try to build a civilisation of life and love, who else will...?  We can begin that even by the manner in which we - honestly and robustly - disagree