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Pastimes : The Literary Sauna (or Tomes in Towels) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (441)	8/29/2001 10:41:52 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 466

That was strange. I do not understand why that happened. I'm not sure why anyone would care enough about us to take our words about a literary discussion and try to apply them to a current event we were not discussing. Some things passeth all understanding. As this is so, let us simply take it as further evidence that on SI we meet people we cannot possibly understand and whom we cannot possibly coexist with if called upon to have daily interaction. They might as well be yelling hostile phrases at us a foreign language- they ARE speaking an emotionally foreign language, and speaking it in hostile fashion. They are The Other to us, as we are The Other to them. Some times we choose to demonize each other. I don't know if that is the right path. I can't possibly say. It doesn't seem to have salutary effects to stoop to the level of the people who would attack you OR your ideas Or your words, nor do the people who attack all the time have much to add to the world (imo). But I am trying to have compassion for the people who seem to have a need to turn me into something I am not. It is not easy to have compassion for them, but I am working on it. I know how you feel only too well when you see your words taken out of context and twisted beyond all recognition. My goodness, I am amazed constantly by what I see. Please try to remember that you are still you, your words are still pure in the way you used them. Our discussion (though short so far) was wonderful. I really enjoyed it. The fact that a person, who did not read the work and who probably did not understand the discussion, would take the discussion here and bend it to suit his own needs says everything about him and nothing about you, or E or Poet. We read a story of great power. We shared ideas. That is one of the great things life has to offer. What someone else might choose to do with that discussion for their own gratification is not within our control. Be happy that you facilitated a really excellent community of ideas. I wish it could happen more often. I doubt I will ever forget that story. I would love to teach it- and if I teach high school English I WILL teach it. And I will always remember that you discovered it and gave it to me. Good stories are a precious gift.