Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  You've been here longer than anybody else except for
AH>  Dallas & me... and you understand what we're trying to
AH>  accomplish. If others are team-teaching effectively he
AH>  doesn't need the big hammer.  :-))

JB>  As a blanket apology, I know how I was raised to push
JB>  boundaries.


          I wasn't.  But I cheered inwardly for the teenager who... when
asked how leukemia had affected his life... commented "I'm a lot
mouthier now."  ;-)



JB>  I pray I was never too far from the "spirit" of the
JB>  community you two built here, and if I was, I trust
JB>  I wasn't too hard to lead back to enlightenment?


          Not at all!  Survivors recognize one another.  I see that in you.
 I see it in Richard.  Yes, I do some gentle direction of subject matter at
times
... but the apparent subject matter is a component of the larger picture.  :-)



JB>  My words to Shilo stand if so.


          I couldn't have said it better.  Give yourself a gold star....  :-))



JB>  I talk in fido how I like to talk to the neighbours
JB>  across our fence, and how I'd like to be talked to.
JB>  "Don't be offensive, OR easily offended..."


          Do as you would be did by.  Makes sense to me....  :-)



JB>  I know I can be gruff and crass at times and I need to
JB>  be more sensitive to others, but I *think* of myself as
JB>  the guy too willing to lend my neighbour my garden hose
JB>  if his house is on fire, but I'm not above giving him
JB>  a hard time about it if it comes back all kinked up.


          I call 'em the way I see 'em, just as you do.  IMHO your heart is
in the right place & you responded with awesome sensitivity to Shiloh. 
:-)



JB>  ... And I need to work on my "Oh ya?" attitude.


          A certain amount of healthy skepticism is not amiss AFAIC, and
Steve would appreciate that too.  But he may be wondering what to make of
us because we didn't run away screaming or try to correct his perceptions
when he told us he's an atheist.  I see some evidence of a Wounded Child
there... as I imagine you do.  We've dealt with similar issues here in the
past.  OTOH, I suppose he may be thinking... as one of our (now deceased)
BBS users did... that we sound too much like the Care Bears to suit his
preference.  Over to you, Steve.  ;-)



JB>  I hope your new readers here can feel half as welcomed
JB>  as you two have made me.


          Thankyou!  I'm glad to hear you feel that way....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+