I see there are a number of messages today on my time line, and Ill check them shortly. Before I do so, there are a few things I want to say first. Why Im grateful on my birthday ... well, there are too many categories there, so lets shorten it up a bit. I met Lauryn Cone on her brothers BBS, Subculture Shock, many years ago. I had no idea then that she would be in my life from then on. Those who know me know I am irascible, short-tempered, irrational, easy to take offense, easily distracted, and subject to profound depressions. Lauryn has stayed with me through it all, not just when the going gets tough, but ESPECIALLY when the going gets tough. She puts up with me, even when *I* wouldnt put up with me, were I own my own. She is endlessly inventive, endlessly creative, much more knowledgeable, and is blessed with a far better memory than my own, so that she makes a terrific editor. Odds are great that I might not be around today, had we not found each other. I am grateful for those friends who, over the years, have put up with my ways of communication and lack of social graces. For years, I was convinced that when someone told you something interesting, the proper response was to share something interesting in return, whether it related to the previous conversation or not. I still dont really understand what a conversation is. Im grateful to those friends who are not nearly as judgmental as I am. They overlook my shortcomings and those of the people I judge, as a way of showing what true friendship can be. I am grateful to those whose knowledge and experience is different from my own, who still express their viewpoints and conclusions, which the hope and understanding that we can meet common ground, despite our differences of opinion. I am grateful to those friends who know that on certain subjects we CANNOT reach common ground, and thus cheerfully discuss those subjects where we can, or those where we can disagree but with mutual respect. I am grateful for those friends who have provided me music, art, fiction, non-fiction, and other forms of expression that have given me pleasure in the past and will provide me pleasure in the future. I am grateful for those who understand my passions, even when they disagree. I am grateful tolive in a world where I can find information from around the world in minutes, where it previous decades, it might have taken me months to learn the same information ... if, prosaically, my wandering (ADHD, in common parlance) mind didnt lose focus and wander off to another shiny object before my search was complete. Im grateful to those who understand my wandering mind, if not the directions it takes. Im grateful to those who listen closely and analyze what they hear before responding, for their frustration when my mind begins to whirl like a Cahterine Wheel and I begin to fire off all the thoughts that are currently on my mind, alinearly and without clear intersections between the thoughts. I am grateful that there are people, on line and off, from whom I can learn things, and who are more than generous in sharing their thoughts and inspirations. I am grateful for digital archives, and for the people who create them, maintain them, and make them freely available to the world. And, most of all, I am grateful to you, my facebook friends. You are exasperating and inspiring and problematic and supportive, wildly creative and logically convincing. You are conservatives and liberals and music fans and comedians; you are film-makers and writers; you are scientists and daily workers; you are business owners and employees; you are politically active and politics-averse. Youre from the U.S., and Canada, and Malaysia and Wales and England and Scotland and Germany and Italy and Argentina and Iran and Mexico and Spain and Brasil and France and many other places besides. You are my community, on line and off, and I am happy to know and to have known each and every one of you.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 22:24:59 +0000
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