Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>On 4/12/02 (SonC) Sonny Carter wrote: > >> >>The quality of Erwin Puts' work is not in question, and never has been, even >>by his detractors. The title of the post that so offended Erwin seemed >>jocular to me. I did not see animosity there. >> > >It seemed *at least* snotty to me and but denigrating is more like it. Our shame on this group is that someone who to my knowledge never made a "nasty" or unkind comment to anyone, feels so unwelcome that they are unable to be proud to be on the LU list. Look into your souls, and you should feel some of the shame I now feel, and I don't believe I've personally hurt anyone on this list. Perhaps the "critics" were well intentioned, perhaps the hound dogs feel every wound should be exploited, but a community should have more compassion, more tolerance and less harsh words for its members. There is nothing wrong with questioning the validity of any statement, but there is no reason to doubt any person's honesty. I suspect 99.9999% of the members of this list are well meaning, honest, thoughtful people. If you assume this, you will probably not be "unrewarded". Every member I've met, ---- and I've met quite a lot of you now, has been worth knowing. Every "bad" story about a member is counted by good ones from those who have personally met the individual. Last night I watched the first of a series on the "White tribe" of England; the moral of the first episode was that somehow a proud nation had lost its pride and was hiding behind the achievements of old and the culture of others. Young men who did not know how to celebrate the fact that they were English, who watched others celebrating their culture and identity and lamented the pitiful emotions stirred by St Georges day. We largely "western" peoples need to be proud of our fathers, kind to our friends, and live in a way which benefits us and our families without hurting the aspirations or goals of others. I wonder if the decline in Western culture may be in its inability to celebrate life and appreciate the life of others. May we live in peace, may we try to understand the other person, and may we please get back to discussing photography with fine (if somewhat "useless") instruments. - -- Alastair Firkin http://www.afirkin.com http://www.familyofman2.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html