Path: mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!snorkelwacker!usc!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!ejalbert From: ejalbert@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Edmund Jason Albert) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Logic? Keywords: logic suicide Message-ID: <12308@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Date: 19 Dec 89 05:38:07 GMT References: <12303@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Reply-To: ejalbert@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Edmund Jason Albert) Organization: Princeton University, NJ Lines: 46 In article <12303@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> jwbirdsa@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (James Webster Birdsall) writes: > >In article <6301@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> ez000691@pollux writes: >> "Whatever you do, discard suicide as an option, immediately. You can >>live without her. You won't have to, but if everything came crashing down >>around your ears, you could go on. You *could*. Use logic, if you wish, as >>there are a couple of beautiful arguments for living, but it's better to just >>feel it in your gut. > > "Shadow, I can't let that one pass without remark. Just to be clear, >I agree with your stand against suicide. On January 4th, I complete my >second year of still being alive and, on the whole, it hasn't been that >bad. My personal attitude, when I'm thinking straight, is that there is >far too much to see and do even in a whole lifetime, and one of my >ambitions is to live as long as I can. > "So that's not what I'm taking issue with. But I question your >invocation of logic. Maybe your logic is different from mine, or maybe >you have found something I've overlooked, but I have always found logic >to be not only ineffectual but downright depressing. I believe the Shadow did not mean for our original "Growing Up" poster to use logic to relieve his depression. Looking at the situation logically, one can clearly see that his friend is happy with her acquaintance and is likely to remain so. Logic in such circumstances is dangerous. Rather, the Shadow wishes to logically argue about remaining alive; it is a powerful argument. If one is dead, one cannot affect what goes on here: it solves nothing and certainly doesn't make one feel better. To those who would argue that it is better to feel nothing than to feel sorrow, I would say to them that the sorrow will end -- death doesn't. The Geologist turns as he finishes his statement to the poster and says: I as you know overuse logic, and it has gotten me in trouble. But don't doubt its value in keeping one's sense of balance. And my dear friend, one of the dearest friends I have ever had, remember your joy and realize that even in my current joy I am depressed, and be grateful for the happiness once known, and that will be known again. And above all, have a safe, pleasant break. Mike, some pink wine, and I'll use the change to buy one for the redhead from R.I. over there. Jason Albert (a.k.a. The Geologist) Princeton University Path: mit-eddie!wuarchive!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM!jane From: jane@fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM (Jane Beckman x2637) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: A Food Fight Message-ID: <8912190906.AA00640@fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM> Date: 19 Dec 89 17:06:58 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 23 > Shadow grins. "All right. So the topic is eating, hmm? Certainly one >we can milk for all it's worth..." He ducks a hail of peanuts from a corner >table (was that you, Jilara?) and protests, "Just warming up! Of course it was. Just wait until you see me in a food fight, sometime. This is going to be just peachy, I can tell. But someone always has to play the big cheese. But I'm into rye humor. (Hey, Callahan, that reminds me, gimme a rye before someone scotches the deal!) A note to Shadow, whom I would really like to email to, if only I could find him out there. I'm about out of paths, and our mail could support the economy of a small rubber-producing republic. I want you to stop quoting me, among other things. You seem to voice some very similar sentiments to my own, a lot. Almost in the same wording, even. --- ---Jilara the Exile (I hope.) "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." A. Brilliant (alternate identity may be jane@fsdcupt.csd.mot.com---don't you love computers with identity crises?) Path: mit-eddie!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!haste+ From: haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Echo in here Message-ID: Date: 19 Dec 89 17:42:26 GMT Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 60 I'm going to step momentarily from Callahan's, the bar, to alt.callahans, the newsgroup, to ask those who tend to quote other posters at length to reconsider. The nature of our medium makes it easier to copy an entire message, however long, and repost it with our own comments interspersed, than to write one or two lines of context at the beginning of each paragraph. It's easier, but it's inconsiderate. It also lessens the chance that what you have to say will be read: Here is a genuine, if minor, use for empathy. Put yourself in others' places -- easy in this case, because you've been there -- and imagine yourself facing fifty new messages on alt.callahans (and however many more elsewhere!). Are you going to read them all? Well, maybe you will, if this newsgroup is important to you, but you'll be reading more quickly, and with less attention than you'd prefer. The fifth message you read is sixty lines long. The first twenty lines are a repeat of an earlier message you've already read. You blip over those. There are a couple of new lines before the quoting resumes: Depending on how conveniently your software allows you to scan, you either read those lines; or just keep scanning, looking for the meat of the message; or just stop reading it. Sound familiar? There is an impossible volume of material being posted; you can't *expect* people to spend much time mining low-grade ore. And a message which is mostly a repeat of one they've already read is surely that! So. People want to read what you post; that's why they're reading this newsgroup. But there's one of you and thousands of them (literally) so why not be considerate and construct messages that are a little harder to write and a lot easier to read? Don't quote extensively or exhaustively. Quote just enough to establish context. Ellipses are useful. Feel free to paraphrase instead. Remember that most of the people reading your message have already read the material to which you're responding; they only need to be reminded. Look, there's something necessarily pompous about a posting of this sort, and I apologize for that. It's clear that some of the people posting here haven't posted extensively. For their benefit, and for that of their readers, I have written at length on a subject that could have been handled this briefly: Read the next twenty messages on alt.callahans critically. Which ones did you enjoy reading? Which ones do you want *your* postings to resemble? ----- Dani Zweig haste@andrew.cmu.edu "The death of God left the angels in a strange position." --Internal documentation, programmer unknown Path: mit-eddie!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!haste+ From: haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Tibet again Message-ID: Date: 19 Dec 89 17:38:24 GMT Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 32 Thanks, Coll, I was hoping you'd ask. It embarrasses me that I don't remember the name of the person this happened to, because I'm going to take the liberty of repeating it as I first heard it -- in the first person -- and I like to give credit where it is due. ----- I read an old book I found in a bookstore about the beauty and wonders of Tibet. I was especially intrigued by the what I read of the Buddhist religion. Since an opportunity arose I took a trip to see if I could get a bit of "enlightenment". I got there and found that things were quite unlike what I read in my obviously out-of-date travel book. I searched all around for temples and saffron robes but found only workers in grey caps laboring under Chinese overseers. In despair I sought out a famous Lama I had heard of, only to find that he was now a Party Secretary. I asked him where the temples and monks were. "Oh no," he said, "Things are much changed." I showed him my book and exclaimed "But the philosophy! The search for truth and enlightenment! It can't be gone!" He fixed me with a steely yet compassionate gaze and said, "That was Zen. This is Mao." ----- Dani Zweig haste+@andrew.cmu.edu God helpe the man so wrapt in Errours endless traine -- Edmund Spenser Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!snorkelwacker!usc!samsung!uunet!inmet!justin From: justin@inmet.UUCP (Justin du Coeur MKA Mark Waks) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Dancing to the Fireplace Keywords: Hi there! Message-ID: <328@inmet.UUCP> Date: 19 Dec 89 18:50:18 GMT Organization: Many, Sundry, and Odd Lines: 50 Over in the corner, the small man in the green velvet and white tights rises, having spent a while listening in to the conversations taking place around him. Taking a last sip from his near-empty glass, he breezes over to the bar, puts down a small silver coin (Mike raises an eyebrow, but decides that a 15th century coin is probably worth at least a dollar), and orders up a glass of the house's best mead. On his way over to the fireplace, he passes Janelle, and admonishes her to keep in practice with her dancing, as there aren't enough good dancers in the world. He does a quick galliard over to the line, and, as he raises his voice to speak, those near to him notice a bit of a New Jersey twang hiding under the french accent. "My friends, I am almost abashed to speak here; my demons seem small, compared to those I have seen unveiled at this flame. Like so many, I had a quiet youth, so rapt in pondering the seriousness of life that I almost missed it altogether. Had I continued in this vein, I might never have truly learned anything about living, missing the proverbial forest by scrutinizing each tree in such detail. Luckily for my forehead, that it not grow lined with care, I found friendship and trust and causes to pursue before becoming too set in my ways. "Much has been said here about masks. I must agree with Janelle on this score: over-use of masks makes one miss all the import of life. Far better to be honest, both with yourself and with those around you, for only then can you and they learn enough about each other to build lasting bonds. This does not mean wearing your heart out on your sleeve, nor brutally using honesty as an incompassionate bully, but being true to yourself; for once you understand yourself, letting your true self show to the world is always a gain. "Further, remember this: if God can be said to have any one trait, it is a sense of humor. At times, it is a black humor, but those times are rarer than you might think. Seek the good, for when you look for the best, you will almost always find it. The world is a strange place, filled with more wondrous detail than any one person can absorb; look at it, and at its beauty, and you will find that that beauty is simple to reach, if you only try. "Thus: to Honesty and Humor, and finding both!" He swigs the sweet brew, and launches the glass into the fireplace, where it lands with a satisfying CRASH. "Good Gentles, I have gone under many names in different places. Here, I think that the most appropriate would be the Dancer, for observing the dance of life is my greatest joy!" He goes over to a new table, not quite as far out in the corner as before, orders up a new draught, and begins once again to listen thoughtfully to the rising conversation around him... -- the Dancer SKA Justin du Coeur Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!jt1o+ From: jt1o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Joseph L. Traub) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Growing Up Message-ID: Date: 19 Dec 89 18:55:06 GMT References: <10290@pucc.Princeton.EDU>, <6301@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> Organization: Class of '91, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 94 In-Reply-To: <6301@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> Excerpts from netnews.alt.callahans: 18-Dec-89 Re: Growing Up ez000691@pollux (6699) > "My suggestion is to find some way to school yourself to the idea of > seeing them together. It hurts like hell, I know, but it's the best and safest > way to keep her friendship. And it sounds like it's worth it. And I'm afraid > the best way to do that is just to go places where you know you'll see them > together, preferably *with* them and not separately. If that's too much to > handle at first, then stick to phone calls for a while: it's casual, non- > threatening, and you run no risk of running into her boyfriend. I said 'non- > threatening' because one of the ways to make someone resent you is to make > them think you're coming between her and the object of her affections." > > I do love her. Right now, that's all I'm sure of. I want her to love > > me as well, but she is entirely too happy with him. And he is too much > > of a nice for me to even be able to compete against him. I'm rambling > > now, since there is no coherency to my thoughts. Hopefully, somehow, > > if I can become my own person and grow up, then, I have the chance, > > however slight it may be, to be with her. If not, I don't want to clutter > > up her life in any way with my dependency or my posessiveness. I have > > been thinking of transfering colleges, though I would miss this place > > and my friends. I love her. And I cannot go on writing this anymore. > > But I do love her. > Shadow slumps. "And that's the worst part, of course. You love her, and > she's happy, and so you couldn't bring yourself to do anything to mess up that > happiness even if you wanted to. In fact, you're so worried that you might in- > advertently offend her that you're willing to transfer colleges to avoid hur- > ting her. Believe me, that would be a mistake. > "If she values your friendship half as much as you value hers (and she > does, from the sound of things, even with your 'dependency'), leaving would be > one of the worst things you could do to both of you. Don't. But don't trick > yourself into thinking that you're waiting for her to tire of him and come back > to you...not that I think you are, or that you have in any way indicated that > this is what you think, but I know what an insinuatingly attractive trap that > line of thought can be. > "You won't clutter up her life. I will stand by this opinion until > she tells you she'd rather you transfered away, which she will not. You are > her friend. People cannot live with boyfriends/girlfriends alone (well, some > people can, but other people are probably happier). I don't know what to tell > you any more. > "Please believe this: the best remedy for the situation is time. Let > it work: when it has passed, you will both have a strong friendship despite > all this. It may look impossible now (and probably does), but trust me, from someone who's been there, and still is, really... Moonchilde, overhearing the end of this conversation, comes over to the table, and pulls up a chair. "Shadow, You said that much better than I think I could have." Turning to the young man. " You know, what he says is the truth. I too once had a friend whom I loved. She gave me the line that is man's eternal sorrow (or at least so I thought at that time). Let's just be friends she told me. Well, I loved her, as you love your friend, and so I didn't want to let it be. It got to the point where just the two of us being together caused both of us to get upset. See, she was an empath, much as I am. Well, eventually, I went off to college, and she did, and being away from her, well, it didn't help. Everytime I thought of Highscholl, I would think of her and Andy, and I would be right back in the middle of it. So, running away doesn't help. Finally, I called her, and said what amounts to 6 words to her. I told her that I loved her as a friend. As soon as I said this, and realized that I could be a friend to someone I loved, and not have to have them be something more than a friend,we got back our friendship. So friend, there is hope, and there is love, and there are friends, and they do all work together. Please, continue to love your friend,and let her know that you love her, but don't make that love mean that she is any more or less than a simple, plain, friend." "So, a toast. Mike if you would please -- yes, Scotch on the rocks." He snaps his fingers and a dollar bill appears in front of Mike at the bar, and the glass appears in his hand. "To friendship: the best sort of love." **SMASH** The glass shatters into a hundred glistening shards, and the flames glare blue with the remaining drops of scotch. Returning to his seat by Taldin, Moonchilde returns to listening to the discussions going on around him. Moonchilde _______________________________________________________________________________ ** | * * |Joseph Traub -- Carnegie Mellon * * |Internet: jt1o@andrew.cmu.edu ****************************************** |UUCP: harvard!andrew.cmu.edu!jt1o * Blessed * * Blessed * | * Be! * An it * Be! * |__________________________________ * * harm none, * * | * * do as thou * * |"If pro is the opposite of con, * * wilt. * * |then what is congress?" * IO * * IO * | * EVOHE ** EVOHE * |___________________________________ * IO * * IO * | * KORE * * KORE * |This space intentionally left blank * * * * |This one too! * * * * |And ditto once again! ** ** | ___________________________________________|___________________________________ Path: mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!snorkelwacker!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!image.soe.clarkson.edu!news From: weilercw@clutx.clarkson.edu (C. "Puppy" Weiler,,2684087,) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Greetings fellow Sensitives Message-ID: <1989Dec19.192010.3800@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> Date: 19 Dec 89 19:20:10 GMT Sender: news@sun.soe.clarkson.edu Reply-To: weilercw@clutx.clarkson.edu Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY Lines: 104 A nondescript man walks up to the bar (5'9", brown hair, brown eyes, average build,glasses,and an easy smile) "Mike, a Horny Toad, Please", slapping a bill on the bar. Gazing around at the crowd, he decides it is time to speak. He has only been here a short time, heard only a few people speak, but already the atmosphere of the place has caught him. He walks up to the line, raises his glass, swallows the shot, and speaks to the waiting people: I have only been here a short time, but I feel as if I have been here for years. You see, I have been turning people on to Spider Robinson and the Callahans series for about two or three years. It really warms my heart that this forum has come to pass. For those sensitives (a person with higher than average empathy -- the kind that find this world a hard one to live in -- and need the company of other sensitives to make it -- the kind of person who finds and frequents Callahans(Mary's) Bar) who could not or may not need to find Callahans. I don't know if anyone has thought of it, but someone should write to Spider and let him know about it... maybe he can come up with a way to join... In the few stories I have read, there has been a lot of talk about looking for a Significant Other or Soulmate, or just about being an outcast. I have had those thoughts for a long time, and I don't think that there are many people who don't... But I think they'res a few people out there who may benefit from my experiences... As for being an outcast: In high school, I had hair down to my shouldersand was very insecure about that and how I looked in general. I also thought that I was the only one who felt lonely, that I would never find more than a couple friends or ever find a girlfriend, much less a soulmate. I'm not sure exactly what happened, on the surface I cut my hair (it's still longer than average in the back) and I put forth the effort to play some football (JV, one year -- I wasn't the worst, but I was d*mn close). Maybe the fact that I was more physically fit than I had ever been (or have been since), or that I and a bunch of other guys actually worked together in a group or team, or maybe I just finally realized that each person is locked into their own skull, with their own thoughts and feelings that they're ashamed of or don't think people would like them if they found out... whatever. I finally realized that I wasn't an "outsider," mostly because NOBODY is an "insider." NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY TRY TO MAKE YOU THINK SO!! This semester I joined a fraternity. Sure, we have secrets and things that are just between us, but that doesn't make us "insiders." All fraternities are is a group of guys who get together, share a common experience called pledging, and agree to be friends, work and have fun together. It brings an incredible feeling of security, having fifty guys who would share anything, be there for you whenever you need them. But I digress: alot of things have happened before this... When I got here (at Clarkson University), I had had a couple of experiences in trying to find girlfriends, and been turned down. About a month after I got here, I found a couple of friends and we became really close. (One of them and I had all but 2 hrs of classes together: we finally said "My, you look familiar" and got to know each other...) One introduced me to his girl- friend who introduced me to this other girl. Within a month, we were "going out." That relationship lasted 21 months before it went sour (she had too many other things in her life she wanted to do to have time for a boyfriend.) Some advice to those who are looking for soulmates: Look for friends, if you find a friend, it may turn into something more, it may not. If you go out looking for a soulmate, you're going to scare people away who may not be. And if you find someone who is, you're both going to be EXTREMELY hurt if/when it doesn't work out (remember: they're extremely rare...). I was very hurt when we broke up, because I really thought I had found the person I wanted to spend my life with. I'm still recovering from breaking up with her... and it's been 5 months. I have another friend that I am extremely close to; we tried to see if we had romantic interest in each other, but it didn't work out. So now we are extremely close friends. She is the one person in this world that I have bared every part of my soul to. And I think I have seen a significant portion of hers. It is through my friendship with her that I have been able to recover and start thinking about a relationship again. Well, enough of my chatter. It's time to make my toast: "Here's to the Dreamers and the Sensitives: may they oneday triumph over and change this G*dd*amn world pain." He lines up another shot, pays Mike, and toasts again: "To pain shared and lessened, and joy shared and magnified!!!!!" <<<<<< CRASH >>>>>> <<<<<< CRASH >>>>>> Remember: Not a single person out there will ever be alone as long as I still exist in this world. As long as you are polite, I will accept letter, phone calls, e-mail at any time of day or night. E-mail: weilercw@clutx.clarkson.edu Home Address: Christopher Weiler 52 Willow St. Belmont, MA 02178 I'm going co-op next semester, so I can't give you a campus address, but both of those will get your message to me. I will get back to reading the Callahan's network as soon and as often as I can. Sincerely, Christopher Weiler a.k.a. Wheels a.k.a. Christo a.k.a. Puppy member, Tau Epsilon Phi! wasn't an "outsider," mostly because nobody is an year -- I wasn't the worst, but I was d* Newsgroups: alt.callahans Path: mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!erspert From: erspert@athena.mit.edu (Ellen R. Spertus) Subject: Re: Rescuers and Real Men (was Re: The victims in Montreal) Message-ID: <1989Dec19.202113.13691@athena.mit.edu> Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system) Reply-To: erspert@athena.mit.edu (Ellen R. Spertus) Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology References: <1989Dec18.192207.2520@athena.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 19 Dec 89 20:21:13 GMT Lines: 20 Phil, Boy that sure clears things up. It's too bad we weren't able to halt this misunderstanding immediately. My only problem with your posting was that you universally quantified yourself over the males as opposed to over the human beings. At the top of your long rebuttal you mention that this was just a slip. Well, no problem then! I didn't even need to read the rest of you letter to know that we basically agreed. (Of course it would have been okay if we hadn't agreed. I've been friends with many people whom I have major philosophical and political disagreements with.) Whew, that whole thing was pretty rough. Let me buy you that drink I owe you. And remind me to sing you the engineer's drinking song some time. Ellen Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!apple!arc!steve From: steve@arc.UUCP (Steve Savitzky) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: A Memorial Service and Eulogy (LONG) Message-ID: <725@arc.UUCP> Date: 19 Dec 89 20:22:05 GMT Organization: Advansoft Research Corp, Santa Clara, CA Lines: 169 The medium-sized teddybear, having been let out of its Very Dull Corner for the evening, waddles into the bar. In shadowy outline behind it as it comes through the door, one can see a small room containing many bookshelves and piles of assorted clutter. A large pussycat is peering over its shoulder. She suppresses a giggle. The teddybear gradually becomes Steve (two Steves in here could get confusing. Well, I know who _I_ am...), who says "Froggy, please," and sets a single on the bar. Mike pours a glass of Laphroaig. "Well," Steve says, "we held a memorial service for Strypes over the weekend. I presided, in my capacity as a Druid. I'm told it came off OK; as for me I've never had to do that before. Pretty scary. I hope it worked. Afterwards we had a wake and jam session." He raises his glass (now empty). "To Life -- it's bad sometimes but it's better than the alternative." <*CRASH*> "See you tomorrow." As he leaves, he says, "Oh; some of you might be interested in this stuff." Out of his belt pouch he pulls several folded-up sheets of paper, apparently his notes from the memorial service, and leaves them on the bar. .......... tear on dotted line ...................................... [Processional: bagpipe medley.] [DRUID SERVICE O Lord, forgive these three sins that are due to our human limitations: Thou art everywhere, yet we worship thee here; Thou art without form, yet we worship thee in these forms; Thou hast no need of prayers or sacrifices; yet we offer thee these prayers and sacrifices. O Lord, forgive these three sins that are due to our human limitations. [Drawing of circle.] Our praise has mounted up to thee on the wings of eagles; our voices have been carried aloft to thee on the shoulders of the winds. Hear now, we pray thee, O our Mother, as we offer up this sacrifice of life. Accept it, we pray thee, and cleanse our hearts, granting us thy peace and life. [Offer sacrifice: and evergreen bough] Hast thou accepted our sacrifice, O our Mother? I call upon the spirit of the North to give answer - of the South - of the East - and of the West. The four winds are silent; the Earth-Mother sleeps. Of what does the Earth-Mother give that we may know the continual flow and renewal of life? THE WATERS OF LIFE From whence do these waters flow? FROM THE BOSOM OF THE EARTH-MOTHER; THE NEVER-CHANGING ALL-MOTHER. And how do we honor this gift that causes life in men? BY PARTAKING OF THE WATERS OF LIFE. Has the Earth-Mother given forth of her bounty? SHE HAS NOT! THE WATERS ARE HERE, BUT THE SPIRIT HAS GONE OUT OF THEM. Of what, then, do we partake? THE WATERS OF SLEEP. Give me the Waters of Sleep. O Dalon ap Landu, Lord of this and all groves, descend once again into these waters and hallow them. Give us to know thy power and the promise of life that is to return. [The waters are distributed to the assembly.] To thee we return this portion of thy bounty, O our Mother, even as we must return to thee. ] Welcome. We are gathered here to remember the life and celebrate the memory of Aaron Becker, also known as Strypes. I'm not here to deliver a set of religious platitudes about what happens to you after you're dead--that's none of my business. About all I'm sure of is that I can't picture Strypes playing a harp--can you? In any case, this service isn't for Strypes' benefit, but for ours. Reformed Druidism is probably the least organized religion there is: its basic teaching is that what you find in your religious search -- call it awareness, illumination, salvation, whatever -- is your own affair, between you and whatever it is. About the only other thing the Druids teach is that Nature is one of the good places to look when you're searching. And nature is a particularly good place to look now, because it teaches us about the great cycle of life on Earth, which never ends. When a creature dies, it goes back into the Earth to rejoin the cycle. Little bits of it may turn up anywhere--in a tree, a bird, a deer, or in the little critters that turn malted barley into beer. Parts of it may be turned into stone under the roots of the mountains, perhaps to be quarried up and built into some un-dreamed-of temple in a distant future we can't even imagine. But we humans have something else besides. We have our minds and our memories. And when we die, little bits of those keep turning up, too, in the memories of those who knew us. So now, whenever we hear someone sing "Tennesee Bird Walk", or we hear a fiddle tune, or go to the Rennaissance Faire, a little bit of Strypes will pop up out of our memories and get woven back into our lives. Eventually, who knows? A new song, a dance tune, a story, or some un-dreamed-of creation in a distant future we still can't imagine. Strypes will live on in our memories for a long time, because he was a memorable person. He touched a lot of lives, made a lot of friends, did a lot of things. He performed, he taught; a lot of us learned from him, even if we never took formal music lessons from him. I know I did. I was somewhat surprised to discover that he was particularly proud of being an Eagle scout. His scouting friends may well be surprised that he's best known in these parts as a fiddler at the Rennaissance Faire. Anyway, I don't have a lot more to say. I think it would be appropriate at this point to share some of our memories of Strypes. I'll start with one -- a joke Strypes told me that seems particularly apropos: Three people died and went wherever people go when that happens, and Saint Peter met them at the gate. He asked the first "How much money did you make in your life?" "Oh, about 10 Billion." "OK, you must be a corporate raider. Down that corridor, second door to the left. Watch the first step. How about you?" "Oh, about 10 Million." "OK, the other doctors are down there, third door on the right. Next?" "Hmm, maybe 10 Thousand." "Oh, and what instrument did you play?" [turn it over to the group] [Denise has a song that would work very well at the end.] [Signal piper for Flowers of the Forest as recessional.] Go forth into the world of men, secure in the knowledge that our prayers will be answered, that the bounty of life will return to the face of the Earth, and then will the Earth-Mother shower her blessings upon us. PEACE; PEACE; PEACE! -- \ Steve Savitzky \ ADVANsoft Research Corp \ REAL hackers use an AXE! \ steve@arc.UUCP \ 4301 Great America Pkwy \ #include \ arc!steve@apple.COM \ Santa Clara, CA 95954 \ 408-727-3357 \__________________________________________________________________________ Newsgroups: alt.callahans Path: mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!erspert From: erspert@athena.mit.edu (Ellen R. Spertus) Subject: Re: Masks (Re:Interconnectedness) Message-ID: <1989Dec19.204108.15024@athena.mit.edu> Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system) Reply-To: erspert@athena.mit.edu (Ellen R. Spertus) Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology References: <5@microsoft.UUCP> Distribution: usa Date: Tue, 19 Dec 89 20:41:08 GMT Lines: 38 Janelle, Thanks for your wonderful posting. It reminded me of several quotations I have on file (mostly in my head), particularly the last part about being true to oneself. "Being true to oneself is the second hardest thing in the world. Not being true to oneself is the hardest." (This is along the lines of "I'm not brave enough to be a coward. I see the consequences too clearly" and "Before one can say `I love you,' one must first be able to say the `I'." (Free drink to first person to identify who said those last two.)) Here's also a poem by A. E. Housman that used to be in my .plan file... The laws of God, the laws of man, He may keep that will and can; Not I: let God and man decree Laws for themselves and not for me; And if my ways are not as theirs Let them mind their own affairs. Their deeds I judge and much condemn, Yet when did I make laws for them? Please yourselves, say I, and they Need only look the other way. But no, they will not; they must still Wrest their neighbour to their their will, And make me dance as they desire With jail and gallows and hell-fire. And how am I to face the odds Of man's bedevilment and God's? I, a stranger and afraid In a world I never made. They will be master, right or wrong; Though both are foolish, both are strong.