A Very Nice Letter
I received a very nice letter from a Mrs Louisa Reinke that was very concerned about my Blog. And normally I would just let it go, but my Blog is bothering her so bad that I wanted to put her mind at ease. I don’t feel comfortable thinking that I might be causing someone pain or stress in their life.
Below you will find a copy of the email she sent me. And I have edited out her personal information for her protection.
Louisa Reinke wrote:
Dear Mr. Hamel,
Below is a copy of an e-mail that I sent to some fifty or more sangha members in my area, as one of our sangh leaders had erroneously sent us a link to your YouTube video.
Hey Folks,
If you saw this man’s ‘Buddhist’ video on YouTube, you will have noticed that he advertises his website at the end of it. His website has a page or two of Buddhist thought, including ideas about non-materialism, very touching, and then three of the tabs on his site (Donate, Link Partners and Products Page) either ask you to give him money, or try to sell you (I am not exaggerating) HUNDRED DOLLAR ’sports’ shoes, ninety-seven dollar women’s blouses, a men’s t-shirt for eighty, etcetera. Mr. Hamel readily admits that the Sport Shoe link is a friend of his, and I am quite certain that all the other money-making links are tied to him in some way, no doubt with economic compensations along the way. There are also lots of sponsors ads in the side margin of every page.
You too can be a Consumerist Buddhist. And donate money to him while you’re at it, ’cause he’s such a swell guy.
I go crazy with grief when I encounter this kind of commercialization of spirituality, and it is everywhere. And worse, so many people I know buy into it. Your blog contains a few pages of spiritual teaching that can be found in any (used, cheap) book on Buddhism, but has links to THOUSANDS of pages of commercial products. $198.00 for a simple Robert Graham cotton men’s shirt? $168.00 for sneakers? The UFO TV network??!! And dozens of companies that are notorious for their slave and child labor practices around the world ?! Where does your Buddhist message fit in to all of that? At best, it gets swallowed and drowned out, at worst it looks like hypocrisy.
My best,
Louisa
Actually my page or two of posts equals out to be about a total of 248 posts in total with 540 comments. The 3 tabs she mentions are Donate, which since I have put that tab on the website, I have received a Grand Total of $0.00 donations. Ok next tab Link Partners is a section I have on my site where someone puts my link on their site and I return the favor of putting their link on mine. It is a very common practice in the Blog community. I encourage all of my readers to contact the people in my link exchange and Blog roll and ask them for yourself if they give me any compensation for the links. Now I am not sure how Mrs Reinke has came to the conclusion that I am selling hundred dollar shoes, or ninety seven dollar blouses, but like I said if you truly want to find the truth and not jump to conclusions, please contact them, and let me know what you find out.
Ok next tab that bothers Mrs Reinke is the Products Page, which is a plugin for Wordpress that I was experimenting with. Again If you can find any products in that tab that are for sale please let me know. I double checked to make sure and for the life of me, I cannot find not one.
Mrs Reinke is quite sure that all of the links are tied to me in some way without any proof whatsoever. But like I said before If she truly wants to know the truth, just send an email to them and ask, instead of jumping to conclusions.
There are also lots of sponsored ads on the side margin. Which is a total of 6. Two of them are of a friend of mine Dr Fred Bell, who I do some video editing work for, (and yes I get paid for my services) One is Snowmanjapan.net which is a friend of mine in Hokkaido Japan that I get no compensation for whatsoever. One is from Bluehost which hosts my site and the other is from a affiliate program I belong to that has also made 0.00. And the last one is still open.
My Blog made a total of 200 last year on Google Adsense clicks. I will be able to retire soon on that income. I actually don’t remember every saying that this Blog is a Buddhism Blog, but merely a journal of my experiences on the path to self improvement.
Well I hope that I have put her mind at ease, and if you would like proof of my income from the Blog, I have no problems in disclosing, all though I have no obligation to.
Please find peace in your life Mrs Reinke, and I apologize sincerely if I have caused you any grief.
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Comments
Wow,
By the hatefulness of the letter she sent, it sounds like there are some things that Louisa needs to work out in her life before she tries to criticize others.
Don’t let it bother you Charles, you are doing great work, and are putting out kindness, unlike Louisa.
Keep on Keeping on My Friend.
Bill
Thanks so much Bill
No worries on this end 
One negative comment out of the many positive I think all is well.
Ego’s tend to take over at times, it happens to us all. We are all spiritual beings and are the same, I look at Mrs Reinke as a part of myself that I need to improve.
Appreciate you.
Take Care
To Louisa ~
May you find peace within yourself
and extend that to the world, JUST like
Charles does.
{{{{ Louisa }}}} –> A HUG - cause you NEED IT.
Lovies,
Deb
Mrs Louisa Reinke,
This is normal practice on most blogs and you shouldn’t worry too much. It is free content for you to read, enjoy, and learn. No need to judge people based on that. I love to read your blog if you have one. It is very time consuming to create a good blog with good contents, and the least they can get from it is a few bucks.
Best regards,
Mike
Charles I am starting a new blog and the theme has some little squares like the ones up above. I don’t know much about ads and need to get up to speed. Could you take a look at this blog if you have a moment sometime? I’ll give you the keys if you have time.