Not only would Barak and Penyy be welcome in my home, I'd love it if he could come to work with me for a few days
Thanks, Isaac.
As a matter of fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all you fellows who have said nice things about me for the encouragement.
Recently I was talking to my rabbi about the Kairos weekend I'll be leading in October, and my reflections and insights regarding it. Around that time there was some hot thread or other about something or other and I was deep in the thick of it--like I normally am--and some newbie came in and called me a name. Instantly, everybody (well, it
seemed like everybody) jumped in and started defending me, some folks in terms that made me blush. I mentioned that thread to my rabbi and used it as an example.
I said, "With that Kairos weekend coming up, the devil is going to be using whatever he can to sabotage me, and one handicap I definitely
don't need is a big head."
He said, "Well, how do you respond to material like that?"
I said that it generally made me uncomfortable. I have a much longer history on the Internet of being acidly and expertly reviled from top to bottom, morning till night, than I do of having anyone hold me in any real esteem, and once I grew to be comfortable with the former reaction, the latter tends to leave me somewhat nonplussed. (No one should feel sorry for me, of course: I gave as good as I got and in some cases even gooder. I thought it was fun.)
So, I said, usually I just let it go by and don't respond at all.
Oh, no, he said, don't do that. If people offer you a part of themselves like that, it's really disrespectful and insulting to completely ignore the offer, refuse to acknowledge it, or act as though it had never been made.
Hmm, I said; I never thought of it that way before.
Then garryc gave me a taste of my own medicine on the MRSA thread, where I said nice things about him and he completely ignored me (probably for the very same reason I've been doing it). The way that felt was quite instructive; I'm glad he gave me that opportunity.
So...I want to apologize to all of you folks who have been nice to me in public and have been totally unacknowledged. I appreciate your sentiments even if they do make me uncomfortable. I didn't mean to make you feel bad, and I'm going to try not to do it anymore. I'm awfully accustomed to the old ways and don't know much about the new...but I'm going to give it a try anyway.
