Fw: [Vision2020] Toleration

[Linda Pall]

Dear Visionaries,

I wasn't able to attend the memorial but let me put a little memorial out
there in his own words. I came upon this as I did some wierd gyrating with
my computer. I think this is fitting for Phil, though I did not know him
very well at all.  And thanks for the opportunity to contribute to the fund.

All the best to each of you,

Linda Pall




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Nisbet" <pcnisbet1 at hotmail.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2005 2:14 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Toleration


> Here on the weekend I would love to reflect on some things that I have
noted
> recently.
>
> At one of the public meetings I attended recently, I was told by a person
> who shall remain nameless, that I should go back where I came from.  As a
> Jew that's not an atypical response that we tend to get when we voice our
> opinion, but this particular comment struck me as funny.  The person who
> uttered the comment is of recent extraction, to whit, an immigrant of
> European stock who, though having lived on the Palouse for many years is
> assumed to be 'from' here.  I, on the other hand, trace my family to the
> Boise Basin of the middle 1860's and my great great grandfather Rueben is
> buried down in Nampa, but obviously I am the person who should 'go back
> where I came from'.
>
> And that got me thinking how totally 'cosmopolitan' and so free from petty
> parochialism this town is. . .
>
> Then there was the toe the line letter, republished here by the services
of
> certain folks, which stated that 'some people' needed to stop making the
> majority angry.  How foolish of me to think that as a Republic, the view
of
> the minority was to be protected from the raging of the majority opinion?
>
> So I got to thinking how tolerant and urbane this little burg really is,
so
> accepting of the feelings and thoughts of others. . .
>
> And its not the old time old line farming folks, though they can be
crusty,
> that are the ones who back bite and hurl so many wondrous comments around,
> it's the folks tied to the institution of higher learning.  The very
people
> who should be more understanding, dare we say more liberal in their
> attitudes, are the people who seem least able to handle disagreement.
>
> And those of you who spend so many hours thinking of the next attack
phase,
> do you seriously think that the bulk of the lurkers on this list, the
silent
> majority of very long term, life time residents are simply rustics who
need
> to be taught a lesson in diversity?  Because from my experience, those
> ranchers and farmers and loggers in our rural areas are head and shoulders
> more tolerant, more willing to listen to the other guy and just down right
> more friendly than I have seen of late here in Moscow.  And just for a
news
> flash to some, most of them laugh their butts off reading the squabbling
> that goes on here in Moscow.  And from what Debbie found when she meet
with
> economic development folks down there in Boise, they are not the only ones
> laughing.
>
> Because you see, all I have to do to 'go back where I came from' is head
> outside the immediate vicinity of Moscow, where the 'majority' of the
people
> are nothing like the folks here.  Some of you might learn something about
> comity; learn to play well with others, from those farmers and ranchers
and
> loggers and miners and paper workers and the lot who live in the rest of
> Idaho, just a few miles outside the environs of this town.  And
considering
> how dependent this community is on the good will of the majority of the
Rest
> of the state to see that funding happens right here at the University of
> Idaho, that the people who need to learn not to make the 'majority'
unhappy
> are sitting right here in this town?
>
>
> Phil Nisbet
>
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