[Vision2020] (no subject)

Fri Jan 14 17:58:52 PST 2011

Because of my quite skinny elder son's tendency to tuck his keys into his baggy-jeans waistband, thus dropping them in the soon-to-be-locked car door or front door, we've had two or three occasions to call Gary, and when we decide how to update the locks on our front door, we'll call him again.  He's good, he's fair, he's reasonable, and . . . he neither treats me rudely because of our multitudinous disagreements, nor fawns over me as if we were best buddies, just because I need a new key or something.  Either of those would annoy me.

In truth, I like him -- probably, to be honest, a bit more than he cares for me -- and I have no desire to see him or anyone else unfairly attacked, here or elsewhere.  Deb's experience doesn't surprise me a bit.  I'd rather engage with  an honest conservative than with small-souled, shiftless progressive any time -- even when their honest conservatism leads them to criticize me, and criticize me harshly.  I feel the same way about Paul, Jeff, and Roger.  In fact, in one of those really weird coincidences that happen often, I was 
thinking this morning, before I read anything online or elsewhere, of 
writing Paul a note to thank him for his very kind words of condolence 
to me after the shootings in Tucson.  I realized I hadn't paid much 
appreciative attention to his supporting words and instead answered his 
perspective, with which I disagreed, on what provokes the political and 
social climate that I think precipitates acts of violence like this.  I 
intended, once dinner was done, to sit down and drop him a line -- and 
now, here we are.  (And dinner's a lost cause anyway; I won't ever change to a different kind of sauce again!)

So, Paul, while this would've been off-list 
earlier, I do want to thank you for words you wrote after my initial 
"Tucson shooting" post that expressed what came across as genuinely 
heartfelt sympathy for the losses I was anticipating for my mother, as 
well as for my grief about the whole tragedy.  I've said before that you
 seem to be a more than decent guy, and this time I was the recipient of
 that decency, which is all the more appreciated because you offered it 
to me even while disagreeing with me.  Thank you.  

If I'm not tough enough to face a verbal smackdown, I'm definitely not tough enough to be a part of this forum.  I like this thread and, even though I'm not planning to rejoin Vision anytime soon,  recent events notwithstanding, I hope it continues to bear fruit.

Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com

From: debismith at moscow.com
To: jampot at roadrunner.com
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:08:22 -0600
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] (no subject)

OK, just a moment out of the free-for-all bashing 
and point-counter-point.

I am a big fan of Joe Campbell. We sort of swing 
the same way in politics and opinions. He's also a darn nice guy. Sometimes I 
want him to calm down a bit, but sometimes he probably wants me to just shut up. 
OK.

I have not been a big fan of Gary Crabtree, but I 
have never met him in person, so all I had to go on were his postings on V2020. 
I seldo (well, almost never) agree with a darn thing he has to say. I had no 
idea if he was a nice guy or a total asshat, but I knew he was not on my page, 
and probably was in anentirely different book. OK.

About 4:15 today, I foolishly locked my keys in my 
car. The spare key was at home. My partner was not. What to do? Call the 
Locksmith! As I was downtown, I went to Gary's Lockshop--fortunately, he was 
there. He drove me back to my car, quickly and efficiently got it open, I 
retrieved my keys from the front seat where they had fallen from my very shallow 
front pocket just as I slammed the (locked) door, he drove me back to the 
Lockshop so I could pay him the (reasonable) $40 with the credit card I had 
cleverly left in my handbag in the locked car. I was thanking him all the way, 
as I had things to do, and could still do them!

When Gary saw the card, my name registered with 
him. He made a comment about me posting negatively about him on the V---I said 
something about not remembering saying anything about him personally (though, 
Goddess knows I probably have!). He made me a spare key and gave me a magnet for 
it (no extra charge) and took me back to my car.

We shook hands, said we were glad to meet one 
another in person, and both got on with our day. OK.

Just a reminder to me, and I hope to everyone out 
there. We can disagree, we can be nasty to one another, we can hold radically 
different opinions. At the end of the day, Gary got me into my car, and I owe 
him some organic veggies (at a reasonable price!). We are still a community, win 
lose or draw. Maybe we can stop hacking at each other on a personal level once 
in a while? Criticism, contention, refutation, debate----all fine. Let's just 
try to keep the personal insults to a minimum. Just because we disagree doesn't 
mean either one of us is evil.....

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