Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on September 9, 2012 at 9:55pm

@Tex - there are some things that I would like to live to see, but know that I won't, and life (not AA) has taught me that what I can't change, I must accept.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on September 10, 2012 at 12:27am

Tex, some people might be feeling a need to see a loved one, especially a child, who'd died.

So long as they don't try to put their beliefs into the laws, ....

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on September 10, 2012 at 1:24am

Yes, there are some I would very much like to see again, but I'm realistic enough to know I never will. That's why EVERY TIME you leave someone you care about, it's vital that you leave them knowing exactly how you feel.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on September 11, 2012 at 4:23am

archaeopteryx, I always read what you write here and I'm unable to leave unpicked a nit I saw in my writing while in a writing group. I named it the I-You Shift and have spoken of it in other writing groups.

The I-statements in your first sentence above bring readers closer. The you-statements in your second sentence push them away. Where do you want them?

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on September 11, 2012 at 4:39am

Tom - while I thank you for your readership, I see no nit to be picked, and I'm all in favor of picking nits, as they are the eggs of head lice and should not be allowed to propagate, at least not on my head - in the first sentence, I was speaking from personal experience, I called my Mother from 1000 miles away, and told her I loved her four days before she died. In the second, I was offering well-meant advice to anyone who loves someone and cares to recognize the value of my advice, thus the "I/You" shift.

On a sidenote, I applaud your participation in a writing group - what with FaceBook, 140-character "Tweets," and phone-texting using "Ur" for "your," intelligent writing has almost become a lost art.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on September 11, 2012 at 2:11pm

archaeopteryx, I'm glad you had the occasion to tell your mother you loved her. My mother said she was glad she lived to see her kids reach adulthood but a similar occasion never arose. I've written about my relationship with her; dealing with my siblings helped me see how I-statements differ from you-statements. My I-statements greatly reduced the heat.

About head lice, a cousin long ago had them. His mom didn't like them at all.

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on September 11, 2012 at 2:18pm

They're especially bad on us transitional species --

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on September 11, 2012 at 2:39pm

Transitional species....

During a hotter period during the cold war between the US and the USSR, when there was concern about who would push the nuclear button, Playboy magazine had a terrific cartoon. It showed roaches building a ladder to help them reach the button.

Soon thereafter, when the US was getting to the moon, another Playboy cartoon showed the moon's reverse side. Painted on boards like those that support stage background scenery were the words "Act Two Scene Three".

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on September 11, 2012 at 3:17pm

I think one of the funniest Playboy cartoons I've seen, in a grim, warped, twisted, Unseen sort of way, was of a skeleton sitting on the doorstep of a building, sporting dark glasses, a white cane and a tin cup, his bony finger still pressing the doorbell, above which, hung a sign that read, "School For the Deaf."

Permalink Reply by Mohamed Zaki on September 10, 2012 at 5:31am

I believe that nothing happens after you die, and if there is a god i will ask him for a complaint application.

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on September 10, 2012 at 8:43am

Could you pick up an extra for me? Send it Air Mail, or, you could have a virgin drop it by personally --

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on September 11, 2012 at 2:23pm

I will demand explanations for his many design screw-ups, among them benign(!) prostatic hyperplasia.

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