Subject: Re: apology

From: Lee Flier <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 1997 00:40:52 -0500

Wow Jack, that was very big of you to say what you said publicly, although
I for one didn't have any problem with it.

>I hope the gist of my plea for an open-ended, supportive dialog was not
>lost because of being (ironically as well as idiotically, in this context)
>hidden behind the smart-assed words and tone.

No, I think you had some extremely pertinent things to say.  Smart-assed
vernacular included.

>Kindness and support are the basis of open communication.

Yes... as well as a sense of humor.  Trying our best to be kind is good,
but in the absence of any edge (there's those "edges" again!), human
relationships can get awfully boring and monocultural!

Yes, anger and sarcasm can be very destructive to relationships, but I
think we count anger out only because most of the expressions of anger we
see are inappropriate.  This is because most of us don't express anger when
it IS appropriate, so it's bound to come out elsewhere.

I think anger is a great energizer and motivator.  Bill Mollison even wrote
in his autobiography that it is anger that drives him and has been all
along, and I often feel similarly.  But of course anger is only the flip
side of love - when something or someone we love is threatened, we act to
defend it.  This is as natural among humans as other species.  It's only
when we fail to allow anger to do what it's supposed to do - stir us to
right action - that we start acting stupidly over things we possibly
shouldn't even be angry about.

Just my .02.  Thanks though for your candor in saying what you thought it
was right to say.

= Lee =

==================================
Lee A. Flier
[email-masked]
http://lflier.home.mindspring.com
Atlanta and Ellijay, Georgia, U.S.A.