-Caveat Lector- Chris Page wrote: > > Subject: THE STRANGER > Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 10:31:07 -0600 > From: spiker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: (Recipient list suppressed) > > Chris wrote: It really is worth reading > > Mark L. Santelman wrote: > > Forgive me, but this perspective is worth sending. Mark > > THE STRANGER > > A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our > small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting > newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was > quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few > months later. > > As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. Mom taught me > to love the Word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger > was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. > Adventures, mysteries, and comedies were daily conversations. He could > hold our whole family spellbound for hours each evening. He was like a > friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill, and me to our first > major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the > movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie > stars. > > The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn't seem to mind, but > sometimes Mom would quietly get up - while the rest of us were > enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places - go to her room, > read her Bible, and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the > stranger would leave. You see, my dad ruled our household with certain > moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honor > them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house-not from us, > from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used > occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To > my knowledge the stranger was never confronted. > > My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home - not > even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and > enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other > alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, > and pipes distinguished. > > He talked freely (too much too freely) about sex. His comments were > sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I > know now that my early concepts of the man/woman relationship were > influenced by the stranger. > > As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did > not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my > parents, yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave. > > More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the > young family on Morningside Drive. But if I were to walk into my parents > den today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting > for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw > his pictures. > > His name? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > > We always just called him . . . TV. > ____________________________________________ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
