Re: sorry, not Lector - LectER

Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Sat, 05 Jun 1999 16:15:13 -0700 

At 11:23 PM +0100 on 6/5/99, Scottie wrote:

>     Yes, Tim, you're quite right.  This is really no place
>     for a chap like me.

I wouldn't try to pursuade you to do anything but what you must do, but I
hope you will reconsider leaving.  Your insights have been very valuable to
the conversation when the conversation was going productively.  But of
course, you have to do what you must.

>     of us at any rate - they're all too seductive a way
>     of simply postponing proper work.

Yes ... in my case it simply meant that I couldn't contribute much of
anything.  I still can't; I'm robbing time from other tasks even to write
this much on the list.  (I make sure things run smoothly, but I can't
really participate in the conversation; Scottie, you would probably
understand it if I spent an hour on your couch....

>     It goes on until one morning
>     you catch sight of your face in the mirror at the back
>     of the bar

It's funny that this evokes a strong image used several times by one of my
favorite contemporary writers, Madison Smartt Bell.  He often writes about
people who are on the edge of society, and a lot of that "edge" takes place
in barrooms.

>    - or until Officer O'Connor waves you over
>     to the kerb & asks you to step out of the vehicle.

I smile at that, but the request wasn't directed to you.  It was a plea to
stop the venom and personal attacks on you, which I tried to ask kindly,
hoping that civility and sense will prevail.

>     Time, I think, to pack the bags for that trip to the detox
>     centre.  There are too many fragile sensitivities around
>     here at evident risk from the careless staggerings of
>     an old drunk.

Choose as you must, but please know that at least from the perspective of
many of us, we value your remarks -- even when we vehemently disagree with
you.  Certainly, you and I have jousted at least once, but it makes for a
more worthwhile experience when the opponent is nimble and articulate and,
yes, blessed with far more experience and a radically different perspective
than I can offer.

If you sign off, "may the wind be ever at your back," and all the rest of
that text I was once forced to learn.  But I hope you choose to stay.

Genuinely.

--tim