Letters to the Editor
morphred62
Published Letters: 45
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"when you say it's going to happen 'now', well, when exactly do you mean?"
[Read the article: Are men spoiled rotten?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Even though I'm a 45 year old man, I can sympathize with LW. In my case, however, I'm still trying to overcome social anxiety which has kept me single all these years. The closest I came to a "serious" relationship was when I was 41 and was briefly involved with a 27 year old woman, separated from her very jealous husband, and living on welfare with three young children. Oh, and she was overweight and had lost all her hair due to stress. Yep, I was that ridiculously desperate to at least give it a try. We met in a chatroom and after several months of flirting, she told me she loved me and invited me to spend a week with her. So off I went, over 1,000 miles away to sample living with a lover and her kids. We had a good time together, but Although I liked her, I didn't love her in return and so broke it off. Partly, I just wasn't attracted to her, but also I was freaked out at the thought of suddenly becoming a "father" figure for 3 kids. I have never wanted to be a father and I seriously doubt I'll change my mind in 10, 15 or 20-whatever years.
I'm at worst average looking, somewhat slender but moderately athletic, and I'll never be rich but I make a decent living and have my own house. Moreover, in recent years I've overcome my shyness enough to take part in various philosophical group discussions, sometimes speaking out in front of groups of strangers without feeling any anxiety at all. Yet anxiety overwhelms me whenever I even consider approaching someone I'm attracted to and would like to get to know better. I still can't convince myself that any such woman of any age would want to be romantically involved with me. Yeah, my personal theme songs are Radiohead's Creep and the Smiths' How Soon Is Now?
I wonder how many lonely people who might really get on well just pass each other by, never knowing, crippled by fear and suspicions.
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Ideas, events and people
[Read the article: Psst! Have you heard...?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."
Excluding natural disasters (but not how people prepare for and react to them), events are often based on ideas and their effects on actual people. If you do nothing but discuss ideas and never discuss how they'll effect people, you'll have a very small mind indeed no matter how many high-fallutin' ideas fill your head. You might even foster atrocities.
Imagine only discussing Joseph Stalin's, Adolph Hitler's or even George Bush's ideas without ever discussing how the events brought about by the implementation of those ideas caused havoc for millions of people, nevermind particular individuals. Yeah, very small-minded to discuss what people are actually doing with their ideas and how their actions effect other people. Of course, there is a big difference when you talk about what you only suspect other individuals are doing and it involves strictly personal matters that aren't really any of your business.
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The flukes of the universe
[Read the article: Stop your sobbing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree, Eric.
What a stupid point of view this article expresses, sort of like, oh, don't worry that you've set your own house on fire through your own stupidity, just be happy and don't learn anything and do it again to somebody else's house.
Yeah, those Easter Islanders were so clever, cutting down every last tree on their tiny island for the stupidest of reasons, while also wiping out all the species of birds that once nested there and leaving them with nothing to feed on except one another.
We're slowly but surely doing the same thing to the entire planet and those twits Nordhaus and Shellenberger think we should celebrate how wonderful we all are???
Geez, if we do wipe ourselves out, we'll deserve it. And the universe will be laughing at us.
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Sex and drugs and rock and roll
[Read the article: Sex, drugs and my 15-year-old]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I was in high school back in the late '70s, both of my parents were alcoholics and my dad carried on multiple affairs and neither of them ever gave me "the speech" about sex & drugs, etc. However, my dad was a chief in the Navy and one of his collateral duties was drug counseling, and on my own initiative I picked up and read the anti-drug literature he brought home. I also read the Playboys and Penthouses and Hustlers he brought home too. Yeah, I actually read the articles in those magazines too, after I'd finished with the pictures and cartoons. Somehow, when I graduated in 1980, I was still a virgin, had never gotten drunk, and had never taken any illegal drugs. Of course, that was mostly because I was intensely introverted and spent most of my free time alone in my room, reading, drawing, listening to rock music. My younger brothers were more "normal" and they managed to turn out ok despite our rather disfunctional family atmosphere and despite getting their girlfriends pregnant less than two years after graduating and now one of them has four grandchildren. In my case, I had a brief affair with one of my dad's married girlfriends a year after I graduated (she initiated it).
27 years later, sex with others is still a rarity for me and while I've smoked pot while partying with friends a few times, usually the most I indulge in is a glass of wine mixed with ice and ginger ale. Yep, I'm a wiiiiild man. Turns up my stereo to 11.