I was afraid I had lost Shari after my blunder. I am SO glad to have you back!
When I thought Mark had quit me, I was openly worried.
Not very macho, is it?
When I think something out, I keep running into the guy who died at half my age two thousand years ago. As I write this it occurs to me that HE talked abouthow the shepherd will leave the flock and go after one wandering sheep.
But the analogy ends there. The LAST thing I would want here or try to get back is a sheep. What I want back are the ones who give me hell.
Which leads me to another of Joe’s comments I can’t find right now. He said that if he did drop-kick somebody here he wouldn’t apologize, he would just leave.
Joe, that’s great for YOU. But where does it leave the rest of us?
I don’t believe you’ve even THOUGHT about THAT.
You make a mistake and punish US for it by leaving us without a word. Where is the moral courage in THAT?
You seem to insist it can never happen, that you could never make a mistake like that. If that is the case, fine. But what about those of us, me at the head of hte list, who DO make that mistake? Should I just stomp off and not say another word?
I am glad to have Shari back. I am prooud of Mark’s moral courage.
And, Joe, you said you and I needed to keep learning. What about your obligations to US?
#1 by joe rorke on 01/27/2006 - 8:47 pm
I’m glad you asked, Bob. The answer is that I have no obligations to you. None at all. I am merely an observer and sometime contributor. I contribute not out of any sense of obligation but because I feel like it.
“Joe, that’s great for YOU, but where does it leave the rest of us?” Answer: flat on your collective backs to ponder deeply how you got there in the first place. Get it? No undue provocation results in no flying dropkick. It’s all about interpersonal relationships.
“I don’t believe you’ve even THOUGHT about that.”
You are in no position to have any idea what I have thought about.
The assertion that I made some kind of mistake is totally false. My moral courage is, to the best of my knowledge, fully intact. However, now that you bring it up I promise to take a deeper look at it and report back as soon as possible. We’re going to have to take a deeper look at this concept of moral courage and be very clear about that which we are talking. That means definitions are in order. You, being the professor or ex-professor or whatever the case may be are hereby charged with providing a full and clear definition of what you mean by moral courage. If you are implying that Joe has a dearth of this quality known as moral courage all you have to be is correct. We must be certain here, Bob, that moral courage and foolishness are not synonymous.
Joe has never given you hell. Not once. Ever. That Joe is willing to provide commentary in this blog does not appear to me to be the same thing as Joe giving you hell.
“Should I just stomp off and not say another word?” That is Bob’s question. My response is that at all times and places you should be a free man. That should answer your question. Freedom. Free. The land of the free and the home of the moral courage. Free. Who compels you to say another word? Inner compulsion.
Joe is a free spirit. Nobody owns Joe. Joe is not a team player. Joe is not a gang member. Joe is not a member of a political party and never has been a member of a political party. Joe contributes wherever and whenever the spirit moves him and he does all this without any sense of obligation. In turn, Joe asks for nothing.
#2 by joe rorke on 01/27/2006 - 8:54 pm
I notice this piece indicates a great deal of dependency. Also, attempts to manipulate people. Come to think of it, isn’t that what politicians do?