Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/06/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Message date : Jun 15 2004, 09:46 PM >From : "Adam Bridge" Subject : Re: [Leica] Problems with our extended family. On 6/15/04 thoughtfully wrote: > >I feel this is a family of a special kind. We feel loss for those we do not >know, never met, or otherwise had no real relationship with. Are we >softies? Are we losing it? No. We feel the pain of our members as if it >were our own brother/sister/friend. > >A period of reflection? Maybe. Maybe it is all ganging up on me. > No....not softies....human. On-line communities like these are "hot mediums". They are also rare and difficult to form. People share quite openly here. Yeah we fight and bitch and complain and get our drawers in a bunch. But it's SAFE to do that here. It all blows over, and we (mostly) respect each other in the morning. So it's very natural to experience very real feelings when bad things happen to members of our community. Those feelings, that passion, is our strength. And it's what makes it possible to write to the group about the passing of one's cat or dog or spouse: because even though many of us have never met...we still CARE. That's the important thing. The human thing. The essential thing. Adam _______________________________________________ I was out walking weekend and after a while I found myself a five bar gate to lean on for a while. Arms folded across the top of the gate I dropped my head and closed my eyes to listen to the sounds of summer. Overhead a skylark sang, somewhere off in the distance a dog barked, in the next field lambs were bleating, closer still bees were humming. This is my armour against stress and sorrow and had previously been 100% effective. That was about to change. I found my thoughts turning to Sal DiMarco Jnr., a man I had never met, a man I had never corresponded with, nor even, so far as I can recall, ever contributed to a common thread with. I was puzzled that I felt diminished in some way by his passing and more than a little saddened when I heard the news. I think it had more to do with the impression I had of Sal than the broader community thing. Graham www.geebeephoto.com -- Whatever you Wanadoo: http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/time/ This email has been checked for most known viruses - find out more at: http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/help/id/7098.htm