Rage personified

[Anonymous]

If we don't watch it, we could lose our forums. We may have already lost a good man in KevinstheRRman, I hope not.
Just how did this all start; An individual posted an innocent query and was immediately attacked in a manner no one could accept. I could not accept it and am ashamed to say, let fly. You see, not only the individual was vilified, but a whole country. Needless to say this got the ball moving, and I was one. This was rage personified. When it happened to me I let it slide, but when I saw who all it involved, I had to say something. I freely admit this was wrong. I apologise to our web-master and to others who might have taken umbrage and in future, I promise to control my thoughts. But folks, the way a few write, just rubs me the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

Hey Scottydog,
I think we can all understand where you are coming from. When something rubs me the wrong way, I just try to turn around so it rubs the right way. All light-heartedness aside, the point I am trying to make is that we cannot control how others act, we can only control how we react to others. It is a very difficult thing to just let an insult or jab slide when you are the target, but believe me, it does get easier the more you do it. I'm living proof. After growing up as the fat kid everybody picked on, today I am a healthy, well rounded, (in more than just appearance[:D]), individual that can make friends with just about anybody. Today, if someone chooses to not be my friend, then I view it as their loss, because I am a quality individual. Therefore, any insults just roll on by. Keep trying to maintain an even keel, and it will get easier, I promise.

Oh, by the way, there is nothing wrong with letting someone know that you have been offended. You just need to do it in a manner that is not inflammitory.

Having been there all to often,
Admiral.

[Anonymous]

Hi all

If you don't know by now I will tell you. I was the one who started the ball rolling to intervene in that thread. I didn't like adults attacking adults but when a super nice young man (age 16) is attacked that is where I draw the line. It was bad enough that adults acted like 6 year olds, but even worse that some attacked a teen. I didn't like the thread from the start. It went downhill almost immediately. It was not intended to start anything like what happened. And it bothered the thread starter to the point that he wanted to delete the post which started the thread.

There were people in the forums who remember the "MISSOURI" quagmire and didn't want to get involved in another war. Some of us would not post in that thread -- not because of the person who started the thread but because of what it was becomming. Let me tell you if you don't already know. The young man who started the thread acted well beyond his years showing true grace and wisdom. I wish I could say the same for the adults. I am not pointing fingers at any one person and WILL NOT debate. Someone told me once that when you argue with a fool you become one. I don't want anyone to leave the forums. Everyone is welcome. But we all need to understand that many of the threads are started by and read by teens. Our conduct and speech should be on such a level that anyone of any age could read, understand, and not be offended by what is said. Adults should not attack adults, and adults HAVE NO BUSINESS ATTACKING TEENS.

There have been several threads started now in response to what has happened. There have been many private emails flying back and forth. I know several people have come forth and made public apologies because of what happened. This is all fine and dandy. But there should never had been cause for any of this to take place. I sincerely hope we have all, including myself, learned a lesson and will not allow such things to happen again. We must all be on guard. We must all watch what we say. We must all be tolerant of opinions which are different from our own. Trust me, I have found it is much better to have a friend and respectfully disagree with him than to not have a friend at all. I don't always agree with all of my friends on every subject but I don't attack them when I don't agree with them. I had friends who were "fighting in the war" that I didn't like what they were saying but they were / are still my friends. Some of us made appeals for peace during the last hours of the thread. By then it was too late. To much had been said, to many feelings hurt, and a whole country verbally attacked. Many in the war were just defending their country. We would have done the same. To allow the thread to continue would have just allowed the war to spread. To lock the thread down but still be able to read the posts would have kept the fire going, it would have just leapt to another thread. The only reasonable thing to do was delete it so it would be gone. Gone is the best place for it.

Now many people seem to have come to there senses. THANK GOD! Many people have expressed an apology. Thank you for doing so. Many people have emailed me and asked me to forgive them -- I hold no grude over what has happened against any person. I did not fight the fight but was saddened over it all. Time will heal all wounds. Words can be forgotten. Friendships will be restored. Now let us proceed with living the good life and enjoying the forums.

I want to share with you my favorite Bible verse and hope you can apply it to your life. I will only share one verse but will reference more if you want to check it out, II Timothy 4 : 1 - 7.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

Please don't liken the "fight" Paul was fighting to the fight in the forums. They are entirely two different fights.

I have not lost faith in the forums, or in the forum members. We all need a helping hand every now and then. One of the fighters emailed me and basically said why didn't you email me and tell me to get a grip on myself. This fight is over and hopefully there will not need to be a "get a grip on yourself" email ever again. We can hope, pray, and stop any such war before it starts.

I cannot do it by myself, you cannot do it by yourself. But together WE can stop such battles in the future. WE MUST for everyone sake.

And that is the rest of the story. Good day.

[Anonymous]

Some adults really underesitmate teens. They think all they can do is is party, get drunk, have sex, turn up the music and cuss in public places. But if youlook at most of us, you won't see that. We are people too. So please, we deserve a little respect too. Jim, thank you for defending us.