Present company excepted. <br><br><br><br>

well, let me clarify my position. i am not saying i am not moved by personal stories related to the wtc (or other events of 9.11); i most certainly am. i am just not moved by the whole thing anymore. perhaps i am just too far removed as i don't even know anyone personally who knew someone in the buildings that day (even survivors). now, tell me the story of how little bill lost his dad or mom that day and i assure you that i'll be moved. like margadagio, little things in the forums move me to tears every now and then. NTO1's little niece and the health problems she is experiencing is excruciatingly painful to read about. heck, i even got emotional when i read about your (steveg) youngest daughter and her plight to get to you (a very happy ending). we had that "prettiest baby" contest and i remember wishing i could take my vote back and vote for your daughter just because the story moved me so...beautiful story.<br><br>i don't think everyone should move beyond the tragedy of 9.11 (they shouldn't have to yet), i am merely saying that i have because i am being touched by events much closer to me (e.g., my grandmother passed last week). now, tell me little bill's story and i'll be first in line for tissue.<br><br><br>[color:blue] -sean</font color=blue>

Well, speaking only for myself, and as a male. I hate war. I would never (if I were in the position to do so) get involved in a war. I wouldn't even let someone running a war tell me to fight in it. Don't presume that being a man makes us all trigger happy warmongers, it isn't so.<br><br>EDIT: I imagine this all goes back to the whole 'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus' thing. Women are just more emotional and men aren't. It's just the way we are -- different. I can be emotional too folks, but I reserve those feelings for those closest to me, capiche?<br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by mikeb_X on 06/01/02 10:21 AM (server time).</EM></FONT></P>

Don't worry Sean, it's like I told my husband, we all have to deal with it in different ways. I do in fact think of you as one of the more compassionate posters here. And I think I get a little more emotional since for a 24 hour period we thought we had lost Mom. I'm so sorry about your Grandma, at times like that we can't really think of anything else. I hope you work through the pain and loss, but know it will take some time. Words aren't much but I hope you feel better, soon. Now I'm sad for you.<br>Peace.<br><br>Cheers, iRock<br>

I guess cause I do language and literature, I think of the Mars/Venus thing in inguistic terms.<br><br>I think we focus on differences because we come to know things by noting differences. As a linguistic example, the phonetic difference between "r" and "l" is really important in most European languages. But if you feel where your tongue goes when you say the two sounds, you might notice that the only difference between the two is the point at which the tongue touches the roof of the mouth. The "l" is articulated on the velum, that little ridge just behind the teeth; the "r" is articulated just behind the velum, on the hard palate. The linguistic descriptions of the two sounds say as much: the "r" is a palatal liquid; the "l" is a velar liquid.<br><br>So what, you say? Well, in some languages the acoustic difference in the articulation of the two sounds just cannot be heard because the acoustic difference does not convey semantic difference. That's why some speakers of Asian languages, where the acoustic difference doesn't mean anything find it so hard to prounce "rice," for instance. They just can't hear the difference between "rice" and "lice" because the two consonants do not convey a difference that carries meaning. Phonemes like that are called allophones, by the way--and there are lots and lots of them, some which speakers of English can't hear (the Spanish aspirated "b", spelled as "v," is an instance).<br>Anyway, think of a linguistic system in which there are no phonetic differences, where every phoneme is just an allophone of all other phonemes, so you couldn't distinguish between "bark" and "shark." Meaning would become impossible. The same kind of thing--meaning depending on differences--applies to almost everything we do. When we set out to map the universe, so to speak, we do it by being obssessive about differences and finding meaning in them. So what makes a top quark different from a bottom quark? What makes a lepton different from a meson? Look at a map of any kind--political or topographic or whatever, and what you see are systematic differences that help make sense of the world. Almost every single act of cognition makes us look for difference as the way to define meaning.<br><br>That leads to the Mars/Venus stuff. Beyond plumbing, which is a very nice difference, most other differences between the sexes seem to me like the difference between "r" and "l." A very slight difference in the articulation of behavior makes for a whole lot of difference in meaning. So vive la difference, but keep in mind that Mars and Venus are both Olympian gods <br><br>Great wits are sure to madness near allied.--John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"

*whack* *whack* take that!!! <br><br><br><br>Women aren't all vicious to one another. When I came back to work from being off during Mom's recent illness they were all worried about me and hugged me. And when I had a very serious surgery in '96, on the way home we had to stop for prescriptions. I couldn't even get out of the car (couldn't drive for 4 months). The lady filling the prescription remarked it was a pretty heavy duty prescription so Rick told her how bad of shape I was in. She felt sorry for me and sent a Guardian Angel pin for me sight unseen. Of course it made me cry.<br><br>Cheers, iRock<br>

///<br><br>[color:blue]A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. – W. Wonka</font color=blue>