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Good morning!
Today’s quote is from a film: “You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.”
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back to top37 Comments to “Whirled Views 4.4”
Further in what direction?
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The Untouchables. 1987. Al Capone played by DeNiro.
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My fave quote from that flick was the one about the fellow who brought a knife to a gun fight.
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Sawgunner,
Yeah, but they didn’t have any Ninjas in that movie. They don’t need guns…
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I going away again for a few days. Can I trust you all not to get into to much trouble while I’m gone. Last time I left, I came back to find several people had packed their keyboards and left in a huff.
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I miss both Anlir and Night Train. Does that mean I have embraced diversity?
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#6 KBELLS,
Once you start believing diversity has its merits the next thing you know, you will start beating yourself up for being intolerant about everything the se two professed. Then wham, next thing you know you will be as miserable as Anlir and Night Train and force yourself to leave the tread and we will say we miss you too
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Many have lamented the loss of some of the “regulars.” In light of that, let’s try something.
What caused them to leave?
What lessons have we learned from their leaving?
What can we do to keep the discussion lively but respectful?
My observation is that those who have left have gone, not because we disagreed, but because of how we disagreed. Those who have left may need to acknowledge their part, but those who chose to stay can learn so as not to replicate the environment that makes leaving a legitimate option.
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A related question is, What caused them to stay so long? I’ve looked at the Daily Kos once or twice, concluded they were raving lunatics, and gone on to something else.
I say take them at their word. They were tired of being in a minority, they failed to change anyone’s mind about anything, got disgusted, and moved on.
Respectful discussion requires respectful people. When people post deliberately inflammatory verbiage (”magical creation” comes to mind), it’s impossible to respond politely. In fact, the poster doesn’t want a polite response.
So, we can keep the discussion respectful by ignoring the trolls (though there are no trolls on WMB). Keeping it lively is more difficult, as “polite” and “boring” are very close relatives.
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What Stubob said.
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llama, That’s only if I accept the left’s definition of diversity. “We all have to not only agree but affirm each other’s decisions and opinions no matter how stupid or badly they are likely to turn out, depending of course on how likely the person with the decision or opinion is to vote democrat.” vs the right’s definition “You have a right to be wrong and I have a right to tell you I think you are wrong.”
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People come, people go.
Some people take sabbaticals, some people just get busy, some people get mad, some people get frustrated, some people get interested in something else, some people move to a hut in Greenland without electricity, some people die, some people pretend to die, some people become Moonies and sell cheap flowers, some people spill Diet Pepsi on their keyboard and get electrocuted, some people can’t find their keyboard beneath the piles of books and papers, some people get hauled off to jail, some people get out of jail, some people get too old, some people decide they are too young, some people don’t actually exist, some people get carpal tunnel, some people meet real people, some people get raptured, some people go spelunking and don’t come back, some people get abducted by aliens, some people abduct aliens, some people become monks, some people fall in sewers, some people get stuck in bathtubs, some people get lobotomies, some people get pregnant and have kids, some people get bored, some people just flat run out of words.
Stuff like that.
People go and people come.
That is the internet.
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This from Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint this morning:
“As Francis Schaeffer wrote, we give the world the right to judge Christ by the way we treat each other.”
And I like to remember the admonition to return good for evil– if I could get a decent on-line concordance, I could look up the “address” for you.
(See my rant)
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Michelle,
I’m guessing you’re thinking of the last part of Romans 12. The problem with looking it up in a concordance is that none of the versions I’m familiar with (NIV, ESV, NASB, KJV) use the word “return.” Two of them say “repay,” one says “pay back,” and KJV says “recompense.”
BibleGateway is still the best one I know of. But like any concordance, you have to know the actual words used in the passage, and words used all over the Bible like “good” and “evil” aren’t very helpful. Fortunately for me, I usually have at least some idea where the passage I want is, just not the exact reference, so I bring up the book/chapter I think it’s in and look for it.
Sometimes that doesn’t work, and I’ve actually had to do internet searches for sermons on the topic, in hope that they will quote the verse. Usually I come up with it in the end, if only because I’m pretty persistent.
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Thoughts converging:
Considering the mysterious disappearance of Joel Mark, the vanishings, the blogging pastors thread, etc.
For my part, I very much appreciate the addition of our several pastors on here, I think they contribute a great deal to the whole thing. I also learn from the postings of the older ones on here as they relay some of their learnings over the years and experiences good and bad in various arenas. The mid age people are interesting as we are just getting to where we can put into context what we have been through and how important it is. The young ones are great for reminding that the world is not all figured out yet. The believers are good at sharpening the iron and the nonbelievers are good at giving us a reminder that we are still in the world. All are contributing and beneficial for the growing of the body. How we respond is quite possibly the most important and this is a good training area for learning different responses and their effectiveness.
As far as coming and going. Over the years, Joel Mark has come and gone many times. I suspect he has a life and sometimes that takes more time than others. And what Drill said.
So, are pastors the one who are supposed to visit the sick? I thought it was the job of whoever was called to it and it might or might not be the pastor. Is that a job we have added to the list or is it an essential part of equipping the saints?
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Chuck in Jersey wins! DeNiro as Capone in The Untouchables is correct. Enjoy your digital cappucino…
~~@)
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Mumsee, all this time you had me convinced there is a rule that only the opinions of 50-year-olds matter here. Is this new-found wisdom of yours that I also will acquire in a few days?
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I suspect that a blog (if kept interesting) will be much like your favorite fishing hole.
Once the denizens of the deep are pulled from their lair, others come to take their place…
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Kbells,
That is the problem. Humans can’t agree what the definitions of words are – even when they are plainly written in dictionaries. It is no wonder no problems get solved. I, for one, am amazed that folks do not know that there are definitions for words and words mean something we should all be able to understand and agree on.
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Kevin B,
Understandably, at your young age, you have not yet fully grasped certain concepts. Life is called a river for a reason. As it winds its way along toward the vast ocean of eternity, it makes big and little changes. It is now commonly known that true understanding is in those who are within five months, nine days of turning fifty one. Not to worry, you will get there, though this could change by tomorrow and opinions of value may only be found in those within five months and eight days of turning fifty one. Try to keep up, Grasshopper.
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mommy- On Rants and Raves post #3 you mention the coining of the term “Drillbits”. I don’t have time to search every one of yesterday’s threads. Care to elaborate here (rather than take up bandwidth on the raves thread)?
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I’d like to know what “Drillbits” means, too.
Metanoia asked some good questions. We shouldn’t disregard them. I don’t think it’s as easy as saying they lost so they picked their ball up and went home. We had some lively discourse here. It’s obvious, however, that on the issue of race, we should all learn to be a tad more diplomatic. (This, of course, could be one of my more naive statements.) I, too, miss Anlir and Night Train. I know why Anlir left, but I didn’t expect NT to leave like that.
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Peter L
Check out the “Expelled” thread. #47.
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Thanks, TB!
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PeterL – I see that others answered before I got back to you. Thanks.
Anyone else want to be one?
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When/Why did Night Train leave?
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JBH, I think he left the same time as Anlir, over the same issue. Name-calling and accusations of racism were abounding, one or both complained, and at least Anlir felt as if the problem had not been appropriately addressed. I’m not sure about NT, but I think he felt pretty much the same way.
I miss joking with Anlir about college football as well as his movie reviews. He had gotten a bit more irritable in the past few weeks, though, and I don’t miss that. I disagreed with NT on a few things but we generally got along and we appreciated each other’s humor, plus he was never personal or nasty toward me. Both, when they were civil, added greatly to the blog, imho.
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Mommy: Well, I don’t think that ‘drillbits’ was meant in a complimentary fashion by Steveg yesterday.
Also, it does unpleasantly remind me of what was scattered hither and yon a few years ago, after I had an unfortunate encounter with a deranged, homicidal roto-tiller.
So I don’t think much of the term ‘drillbits’, myself. It stirs up bad memories.
Oddest and most terrifying piece of machinery I have ever had, that roto-tiller.
The picture on the front of the brochure when I bought the thing showed this doddering old white-haired man standing (practically asleep from boredom) beside it with one hand resting lightly on its handle (almost caressingly) as it contentedly and lanquidly roto-tilled the good earth.
The reality of the thing was much different; this roto-tiller would literally dig itself in a mad churning frenzy deep into the earth and attempt to pull me in with it. Then, thwarted, it would launch itself rocket-like at a nearly vertical angle from the crater it had just dug, become briefly and spectacularly airborn, clawing and slashing at the air like a maddened animal, all the while slamming me around behind it like a rag-doll, and it bellowing and roaring in rage and frustration.
Eventually I would manage to let go and the thing would race madly across the garden, through the strawberries, pause to eat a panicked chicken or two, finally fetching up against the fence, where it would turn over on its side in a temper tantrum and begin chewing and thrashing and spitting its way around and around in an ever-widening circle.
It was thus in one of its fits that it reared up and attacked me as I manfully tried to reach in and shut the gas off to it.
Drill-bits everywhere. I REALLY don’t like seeing the exposed bones in my hand, I can assure you of that.
Even now the roto-tiller squats in one of my locked outbuildings and ever broods in its dark mechanical heart, its black oily blood slowly and hideously re-circulating deep within its hidden steel arteries and veins; ever broods and dreams of strange and alien things, things mercifully hidden from the ken of Man.
It waits. It waits and bides its time.
And I? I fear. I fear the Spring.
I fear the time when the garden must be turned, when the door must be unlocked, and the monstrosity unleashed yet again.
So if I suddenly and forever disappear from these threads this April, good friends, know that I met my fate bravely, at least.
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“Drillbit Taylor” is the name of a current movie, so it’s not a new term. I haven’t [and most likely won't] seen it, but the IMDb site says it’s about kids hiring a body guard [Drillbit Taylor] to protect them from a bully. I didn’t see an explanation of the name on the site but, as the part is played by Owen Wilson, I assume he’s kind of a dork.
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Drill – That sounds like a Stephen King novel.
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Drill, I know how you feel. I had an electric can opener that I swear was possessed by someone who didn’t like the way I dressed.
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Drill, Great description! I can relate to that using one of those lawn rippers that pull up all the old grass along with the sprinkler heads and the flower bed trim. I think they call them “power rakes”. They may have the “power” part right but I end up doing all the raking.
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Drill- Are you sure you are not a real life comedy writer? Your description sounds like a Stepehen King meets the Three Stooges feature.
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Peter L., Yep, Drill is a real-life comedy writer, shore nuff. He just happens to write for World on the Web, rather than for Saturday Night Live or some publisher somewhere, and we reap the benefits.
Seriously, Drill, as an editor who has seen her share of bad stuff, I do think you ought to try to publish–your serious stuff is worth publishing too, but I’d love to see a book of your humor. I do hope that you at least copy the material you post for us.
Mumsee, Good to know nothing is asked of those of us who are only looking ahead to 41 and not the vastly wiser age of 51. I’ll just do my own thing and not try to encourage, aid, or advise anyone else till the other side of my 50th birthday. Kinda reassuring, actually.
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Thanks, all. I do enjoy writing; most of what I write actually has at least a kernel of truth in the nonsense. For instance, I AM missing a piece of my pinkie finger, thanks to my roto-tiller. It actually tried to catch my hair on fire last weekend, too. Scorched my John Deere Hat. (No kidding).
Cheryl D. – I guess I have thought of trying to write humor seriously (or to get serious about humor) when I retire in a few years.
But right now though they really need me down at the lock factory (we make door locks). I have a key position there.
No, I have not been copying most of what I do here or anywhere else – unless inadvertently saved (sometimes I will put something on MS Word first, just due to the circumstances of where I am or what I am doing). But that is a thought – I should do that, thanks.
That way I will not repeat the same story too many times and wear out my welcome with you and the other kind folks on WMB.
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Chery D,
Now, see? That is what I am talking about. At your tender years it is vitally important for you to be exercising and practicing those very traits! You must be constantly taking advantage of every opportunity to both encourage and advise, that is how you develop those gifts, not hiding them under a bushel! Tsk tsk, what do they teach in those schools these days…?
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But Mumsee,
I thought you were saying anyone younger than 50 years and something was too young to have anything valuable to say, that we should sit back and let you do the teaching, encouraging, etc. of the younger women. That seemed to let me off the hook. And now you’re saying I’m not off the hook, and you’re even trying to use your older-woman influence to motivate me to do good works? You can’t have it both ways, you know.
OK, OK, maybe I need a little practice…. (Gripe gripe, mumble mumble, Mumsee, gripe.)
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