Dear Friends,
you have humbled me and surprised me with your love, concern and honesty. Left, right, libertarian doesn’t affect the general sense of the comments. You are all greatly esteemed for the aforementioned characteristics which you have all displayed with exceptional excellence!
While I posted this with a hint of humor intended, there was something indeed that her comments were based upon, and so many of the responses forced me to discuss the issue with her this Father’s Day after church. It was a very healthy discussion and it helped to uncover the reasons for her genuine concerns.
I must confess right here that her “ultimatum” was given to me slightly more humorously than I managed to convey it in the original post, yet after subsequent deeper discussion with her I realized that there was a real fear involved on her part. That fear was related to her previous marriage where at least 2 very damaging addictions were involved, and a third, to television - which is superficially quite similar to staring at the internet - was just the icing on the cake. After a long revealing conversation with this wonderful woman who has suffered more than I can imagine for longer than I care to imagine, we now have a much better understanding of where we are coming from regarding both her needs and mine.
I am relating all this just to let you know that your overwhelming response to such an “insignificant” thread in terms of “world news” (since it involves merely one anonymous poster on the internet) just absolutely floors me, and has in fact helped us to overcome what was bound to be a big problem later on, by helping us recognize that there were much deeper issues at work.
I also want to share an insight about all of this with all of you, that I have been spending more time thinking about lately.
In so many of our threads and posts, and of course in our own individual lives, we respond, at least in our thinking minds, and often in words and actions, to the words of others whom we don’t really know much about.
How often are we aware of the trials and tribulations that others are enduring which color their speech and behavior? The rejected housewife, or the lonely soldier serving his country a world away from his family? The betrayed or henpecked husband, the father whose son is in jail, the grown children who haven’t seen (nor know the whereabouts of) their mother in 5 years? The lady who just discovered her child has cancer, the faithful worker who was just laid off, the grandparents who just realized that their pension fund was raided, or the young fellow who just lost his best friend, his dog who had spent half his life with him through thick and thin?
I guess what I am saying is that many of us qualify as one of those who are dealing with struggles that are not apparent to the world, and we just struggle with the stress, pain, and losses in silence. That is what I have learned from my beloved. And that insight spills over into what I suspect even among the many here who exhibit such fine understandings about so many things in this world.
The folks here who annoy me with their particular take on world politics, for example, are quite likely among the finest of humans available, in spite of our disagreements, and I hope that I can adjust my responses to their political views to avoid unnecessarily offending my fellow posters. In view of this, I would like to sincerely apologize for any harsh things I have said over the years to such among you here that I have held deep disagreements with. I hope you will forgive me and I do promise I hold no hard feelings towards any of you for things said to me or about me here on tb2k. Blessings indeed upon you all who would welcome them!
