Well, Matt finally contacted me and we had a long talk. It took him
four days to return my phone calls, and he had no idea what was
going on. Apparently he left his charger in New York and couldn’t
answer his voice mail or e-mail for four days.

First up, Matt’s not a bad guy or a manipulator, just fucking weird.
I talked to him for a while about why calling me like that was not
cool and as I talked with him I figured out that he’s got a few
problems he needs to deal with all related to his past.

Michael Brauser also contacted me and said much of what Matt claims
is not true. Rather than get into a drama story I’ll just leave
it at that. Just to reiterate, I never claimed Michael did
anything to Matt, just that his involvement was confirmed.
Michael seemed to think that my blog post would imply that he
tried to hurt Matt, which is not true.

Hopefully Matt has a good life, and doesn’t let something like
this happen to him again.

Which leads me to the real topic of today’s blog post. None of the
things I mention below happened to Matt (as far as I know), but I
thought I’d talk about them for anyone out there who might be in a
similar situation.

Actually Getting Help

What I believe people should learn from the story is there’s much
better ways to get help than the internet. Sometimes there are
good forums for people who suffer alone with various ailments
and without these small communities their quality of life would
be much lower.

However, these communities are not immediate. Some people on
a forum cannot help you if you’re being attacked or abused
in anyway. They can’t help you if you feel like hurting
yourself or other people. They can make you feel better about
a hopeless situation, but they can’t leap to your aid when
you need it immediately.

If you are in a situation where you’re in trouble, call
the police or go visit any place of worship. The police
typically have to respond if you ask for help, but in
my situation they wouldn’t help Matt when I asked them.

I know many programmers are not religious, and I’m not
really either, but many churches and houses of worship
do good things for people. They feed the poor, take in
the sick, and help people who need it most. When you need
help, a church, synagogue, mosque, or temple will most
likely help you.

In many cases, religious leaders are trained in counseling,
psychology, and know many people in the social work and
protective services world. If they can’t help you, then
they can find someone who will, and give you shelter until
you get help.

While I’m not Christian, I owe my life to a very loving
Christian family who took me in when I was younger and
very poor. I love people who are truly Christian because
of them. They didn’t care that I didn’t believe in their
God, or that I was a little strange. They just offered to
help and asked for nothing in return.

Without them, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I would most
likely be poor and homeless with barely a highschool education.

That’s why I tell people that visiting a church is a good way to find
help. Even if all they do is lend you an ear you can pour your pain
into, they are doing more for you than 95% of the people out there.

Alright, that’s my PSA for the day. Thanks a bunch to everyone
who helped.