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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mcg404 who wrote (17485)	3/10/2003 4:08:30 PM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 81953

Hello John, and it's my pleasure to meet you ---- --- especially when you say nice things to me! As I keep saying, I find this Iraq story absolutely absorbing and most fascinating so I guess it comes across in my writing. How the whole world is involved in the dilemma about what to do with Saddam Hussein is something I have never experienced before. How a bad guy, like him, has become a virtual hero and how the "good guys", the US and UK, have put "chocolate" all over themselves and dug themselves deeper and deeper into a hole is something incredible to behold. I suppose the truth is that I'm not emotionally involved in this thing as are many others who post. In fact, what happens to Saddam doesn't worry me one way or the other. My concern is that I wouldn't like to see many innocent people hurt or killed. I am also very disappointed in the present US administration and, probably because it is acting like a bully, I would not like to see it prevail. Yes, the left brain/right brain concept is fascinating. Oversimplified, of course, but it does illustrate the wide range of apparently "normal" thinking that the human is capable of. You mention the difficulty in communication between one kind of thinker and another but, on the other hand, there is the attraction between similar kinds of thinkers or non-thinkers! I also find there is a collective consciousness (or maybe it's unconsciousness) how one can think about something and then find others are saying or writing about the very same thing. It is strange that you refer to Pirsig's book. I read and re-read it about 30 years ago. It was probably one of the most important books of my life and it absolutely knocked me out. In fact, there were times when I felt I was able to identify with the main character, especially when he went back to his university after he had had a "nervous breakdown" and lost his job. I must say, I hadn't considered that I had read my "profound statement" about thinking there but, of course, it makes sense that I did. Apropos the politeness, well, that has taken me many years on internet forums to acquire. After apparently, and unintentionally, offending many people by the things I had written, I began to realize that one cannot take anyone for granted. Thus, I made/make a conscious effort to be be quite formal and to treat others with obvious respect. This, for me, is particularly important because I can be very controversial and abrasive and I have a sense of humor that many do not appreciate. There is also a fundamental truth involved which is that one generally gets what one gives.