The first time happened when he took hold of my mailing list and started bombarding some pretty horrified people with missives. When I asked him to please refrain, his response was, in essence: "Anything goes."
I don't think so, and I must say so. It is unfortunate.
The second incident involves some pretty nasty comments apparently made to a highly gifted sixteen-year-old of another race who had done nothing worse than asserted his pride in his own race in response to one of those unwanted letters.
We don't destroy; we build. And we don't pick on sixteen-year-olds, because a wrong done to a youngster of that age will never ever go away.
Everywhere you look, nature tells you: "Only one can be the best." It does not tell you: "Only Aryans can be the best." That's why I am not a white supremacist, although some in the movement are. My dictum is: Let the best win, and we will all be the richer for it. For us to wish to be the best will not make us the best - we have to prove it to be true. In my opinion, we don't prove it by wounding a proud youngster of another race who wants the same we do.
Now having said that, I know that I have made myself an enemy, and that is saddening to me. That's all I have to say about this matter - not knowing what else I can say.
Not being in the mood, therefore, to shed my own wisdom on a wretched situation, I turn to a source that is better with words than I am.
Below is one of the Desideratas which have given me much comfort in the past. I do not even know who wrote them, or what caused them to be written, but they are beautiful and don't wear thin from use:
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they, too, have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are a vexation to the spirit.
If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interest in your own career ever humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
Do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be there.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be; and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful. Strive to be happy.
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"Mankind owes to the child the best it has to give."
U.N. Declaration
Comments? E-Mail: irimland@cts.com