Re: [Leica] Bitter Pill

["Gerry Walden" <gerrywalden@cwcom.net>]

Mike

I am pleased to see your name back on the LUG.   Whether people agree with
your views or not, they were well placed and welcome by most of the
sensible, quiet majority here.   I am just pleased that it would appear that
Brian has put an end to some of the problems and I hope that people can
forgive and forget.   Lets just get on with enjoying our cameras (whatever
they may be) and our photography.

Gerry


- ----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: 10 March 2000 08:58
Subject: [Leica] Bitter Pill


> I'm literally overwhelmed with messages--
>
> I have received well over a hundred responses to my "Bitter Pill" post,
> mostly in private, and collectively they've been worth getting burned by
> all the flames. Of all those, only one (posted in public, obviously for
> the benefit of his own friends) was negative, provocative, and unkind.
> It's quite possible that despite my best intentions, I won't get to
> answer everybody personally, so a grateful THANK YOU to the many, many
> people who wrote in support--and all of you who offered to send me
> Leicas! There were even a few people who dislike me who wrote thoughtful
> comments in private offering their perspective, and I thank them along
> with the rest. I've read every single message carefully and I'm
> enlightened by your thoughts, moved by the life stories some of you
> shared, and instructed by your counsel.
>
> I've learned something from all this. The strong contrast between what I
> see as an angry, vindictive, pompous, or lecturing LUG mafia (you know
> who you are) and the many participants who actually take pictures and
> put them up for others to see (Stephen Hollway, Kyle Cassidy, Tina
> Manley, B. D., Gib R., Dan, many others who I apologize for not
> mentioning) have convinced me that I would prefer to belong, or should
> aspire to belong, to the latter group (even as my disputations with the
> former group made it appear as if I belonged with them. I confess to a
> guilty pleasure in the battle). So my next exercise in learning
> photography will be to find myself a cheap, common camera (perhaps even
> a point-and-shoot, although I'm not certain I can take it that far) and
> make a print a day for a year.
>
> That's what I aspire to, anyway. A big challenge for me, since I'm a
> busy guy and constancy is, er, not my best thing.
>
> Thanks again to all who wrote (especially my good friend and
> brother-in-arms Ed Buziak, ya big lug!
>
> ..._double entendre_ not intended!)
>
> --Mike
>