I have no idea what all this is about, but heck, I'm up, bored, waiting for my son to come in from the Prom, and I liked your description of Terry so much I wanted to tell you so. It was so obviously written by the mother of two adolescent boys.
Terry does not pull wings off flies or torture kittens, but he he does push and shove. However, his insults are usually of the generic and impersonal kind --the cruder namecalling variety that doesn't break bones. I've read words at SI that were meant to truly hurt, that aimed at someone's deepest pain and most vulnerable places; Terry doesn't do this, except inadvertently.
Terry realized long ago that I am not at all thick-skinned nor do I enjoy argument, and consequently he is always civil and kind to me in his way or he ignores me. What he doesn't realize is that all these wonderful new people haven't a clue what he's about, and only see the bad side he so loves to present, not having seen his soft side, his occasionally moving and gentle poetry.
It's been interesting to watch so many new people shaping Feelings. (I've been here almost three years, since it's inception, so have seen it in all it's different manifestations)I wonder if the relatively new realize that they are slowly setting down their own "rules" about what is acceptable, what will be tolerated, who is worthy of admission to the "inner circle"? I watch new "in" jokes emerging, new relationships, new styles, and I very much admire and like everyone here, but as jbe pointed out to CGB, understanding history is important, and I hope that the history of Feelings and its original inhabitants is taken into some account- not that anyone will read 30 odd thousand posts, but that they will remember there's a reason for such a long and rich history when so many other threads have faded away. Part of the "charm" of Feelies is its free for all nature, and at its heart, a caring for each other. |
