Dear John, It was a decision I did not make lightly. Under most circumstances I could like and certainly tolerate Simon/Charles. I agree with most of his philosophy and recognize his clever, knowledgeable, and helpful nature, beneath a certain amount of irritability.
The key problem is the mission of this list is not compatible with: "Simon naturally sent invitations to those who needed to dislike someone (thin-skinned), and took them on..." ... at least, not without considerably more discernment than Charles was in the habit of exercising when choosing the targets of those "invitations" you speak of. Part of our stated mission is to foster a welcoming and supportive environment. This group often acts as a gateway for newcomers to enter the alternative health community. They will not be well served by being challenged to be thick-skinned... In fact they are often quite fragile, new to the online environment, new to alternative thinking, and can easily be driven away for good by a thoughtless response. Now, it would be easy to say, "Tough! That's their problem!" if it wasn't that such an attitude might be a death sentence for someone who is in critical need of the information they are looking for from us. Anyway, I will continue to observe his performance on other groups I'm on. It appears he's making some effort to be more gentle, of which I wholeheartedly approve. A time may come when I invite him back, if he'll still have us. Be well, Mike D. > Apologies for joining this discussion late. > I was sorry to see Simon go. > Mike said this was a common feature of replies with Simon, and so....he > had to go (something like that). > > I trust it wasn't an off-day for Mike, when he made the decision, and > Mike made a timely decision in respect of this list. Of course, I hadn't > seen all Simon's posts. > > I think Simon truly attempted to be straightforward and candid, and we > would not recognise him in real life, as he asked us to consider. > > Yet, it's true to appear polite takes a lot of effort in this medium, in > order to guess what won't upset people. Perhaps it took Simon too long > to learn how. But, we all carry our own cross to bear, and that cross > may be our virtue too. Simon's is understandable, and should be > tolerated, because I think society needs that character amongst us, as > if a calling. Simon remained tough , because he wouldn't be worn down, > and chose to engage people. That is also a virtue, if you have the time > and energy, or are in such a phase. > > The reason I say this, is because I spotted a comment below, which I > frequently see levelled at people, and which I really take exception to. > Mainly because it is a common excuse which always goes unchallenged, and > rather like kicking a corpse - and give the appearance of an in-group > and an out group - the sad people and the happy people. > > No need to accuse me of being thin-skinned here: > > > > --On 9 November 2007 14:09:30 -0500 Dianne France > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Good parents never enjoy disciplining a child but it is necessary for > > growth and setting boundaries. ....... Personally I believe he is a > > very sad person inside. > > I read such statements about sadness as either provocative (if not an > epitaph) or self-serving and censoring sadness as 'an unwanted kind of > mental illness' in our midst. Usually inaccurate too....like how on > earth did you measure their sadness, or its quality, and if you did, why > doesn't that make a difference? > > The sad person inside to be condemned for being sad inside, as if it was > his own doing, or morally corrupt. > > > I'd like to remind folk that sadness is not a mental illness, but > extraordinary happiness is seen as rather like one (mal adaptive, > unreal, delusional). In fact, sadness is viewed in the professional's > reasoned world as an appropriate response to the world, and adaptive, > not mal-adaptive behaviour. > > IN any case, I don't see Simon as angry or sad in any heavy way, but as > I said above...on a mission, and one which might be understood and > tolerated by *Good parents. > > Common is deviation, and a need to categorise people into likes and > dislikes. Simon naturally sent invitations to those who needed to > dislike someone (thin-skinned), and took them on, often holding out > olive branches which were almost as often ignored. In many ways he was > the selfless parent, and risked being misunderstood. Bless him. > > JOhn > > > > > > -- > The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. > > Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org > > To post, address your message to: [email protected] > > Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] > > The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... > > List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> > > [Mike Devour, Citizen, Patriot, Libertarian] [[email protected] ] [Speaking only for myself... ]
