I realize that this has hardly nothing to do with our hobby but I just want to apologize for what I said about my dad having the brain of monkey and that he read at a 4th grade level. I didn't know that would be so misinterpited at the time that I wrote that post. I'm not trying to make enemies with anyone on this fourm. That post was my first ever post to a public fourm. I treat my dad with all the respect I can give him and I think that everyone who replied negatively should realize that his dad (and almost everyone else on my grandpas side of the family) worked for the Grand Tunk Western at Durand in the motive power department as mechanics until my grandpa started working at the GTW yard outside GM Flint assembly (Formally and still popularly known as GM Truck and Bus) from 1975-1995 as a car repairman on the RIP track. My dad works hard for what he does working as an auto/diesel mechanic for the last 23 years and is the bread winner in my family since my mom has been off work because of surguries having to do with her hitting menopause. I apologize again for what I said and I swear that I won't post anything like that again
A little too late to try apologizing for what you wrote in your original piece.
Put me in the school of it never being too late for a heartfelt apology. And never too soon to be grown up enough to admit you were wrong.
Besides, does it do anyone any good for someone to not aplogize? Or admit they were wrong?
It's sure a good thing none of us every did anything we ever had to say we were sorry about ...
GTWGP38...
One thing about the forums, best to keep threads together, rather than starting a new one that's a continuation of essentially the same subject. Your apology would also probably get more credibility with your critics if it were in the original thread. You sort of approached the subject in the original thread but didn't make it as clear as you do here, then that got ignored (come on folks, let's try to be fair, even if you're on this young man's case), in part because your weren't as clear as you were here about the apology.
Hang in there, do the right thing, and this too will pass with everyone hopefully the better person for it...sometimes that's the best you can do when learning the ropes.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I think the apology should be directed to your Father.
My dad died a year and a half ago. I sure wish I was able to say sorry to him again.
It takes some guts to apologize in public. I have to admit I did not like the way you wrote about your dad, but I now have the feeling you have learned your lesson.
If your dad is a automotive tech, he is one of the smartest people around. Your lucky you have a father who works hard for his family.
Now shut up about it and move on.
Jim
Teenagers get impatient. Sometimes immaturity leads them to say things without thinking. I know I've been guilty of that, both when I was 16 and at an older age. We learn from our mistakes. It takes maturity to recognize the error and man up to apologize. You're still young. You made a mistake, but your apology shows that you're growing up.
Tom
P.S. Klick and Klack, the Tappett Brothers, have said auto mechanics have to be smarter than medical doctors because doctors have to know how one product works (one make; two models), while auto mechanics have to know how hundreds of different products work. Something to think about.
mlehman Put me in the school of it never being too late for a heartfelt apology. And never too soon to be grown up enough to admit you were wrong. Besides, does it do anyone any good for someone to not aplogize? Or admit they were wrong? It's sure a good thing none of us every did anything we ever had to say we were sorry about ...
I couldn't have said it better myself Mike
He deserves another chance, as everyone on this forum has surely recieved a second chance in their lives.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Never expected this from a 16 year old!!!!!!!!!! Looks like someone was raised right!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That being said, there are people who should be talked about badly, not saying this was the case here.
LION took no offense, but then him is not the dad of you.
I was always a bit of a loner, and Dad always wanted to get in on my life. When I was about 15 or 16, I sold my trains and bought a printing press. At least dad did not know how that worked. But he found out fast enough. (pied type and all). He cut the linolium blocks, and I printed the Christmas Cards, for years upon years. When I left the house, he got himself a silk screen press and continued the tradition of the Christmas cards until he was 89. After that the chemicals bothered him, and now he and mom are in an assisted living center.
For as "interesting" as my teen and twenties were, I was great to have a father who cared. He might not know one locomotive from another, or what type of subway car he is riding on, but he knows that I am interested and that counts for a lot.
Do dads make mistakes, of course they do. Algebra was his favorite subject, so he would not let me drop the course. I got a 17% on it, but I did finish it, and then took a simple math course in summer school. (I got a B in Algebra in College). But instead of paying attention in school, I drew subway maps. There was an opportunity that he missed. He dismissed my maps, where he could have looked at them and said "OK, now make the train schedule." What fun learning that would have been. How many minutes apart could the trains run, how many lines merge where. What are the dwell times? How many cars does the railroad need to buy, how many motormen must they hire to do this?
All of the could have beens! But you see, we all grow up together, and none of us can see all ends. Mom and Dad are now 92 years old, and I still love them. That in the end is what matters, not that he pied your type.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Sent you a PM.
Mark,
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
GTWGP38-2guy. . .That post was my first ever post to a public fourm. . .
Pretty sure we are being played. Ask yourselves how many 16 year olds have never posted in a public forum before. Add to that the chances that they would choose a Model Railroading forum (remember, 16 years old) as their first entry. Finally, add to that the inflammitory comments about his father, and this is one cynic that ain't buying it.
Richard
RideOnRoad GTWGP38-2guy . . .That post was my first ever post to a public fourm. . . Pretty sure we are being played. Ask yourselves how many 16 year olds have never posted in a public forum before. Add to that the chances that they would choose a Model Railroading forum (remember, 16 years old) as their first entry. Finally, add to that the inflammitory comments about his father, and this is one cynic that ain't buying it.
GTWGP38-2guy . . .That post was my first ever post to a public fourm. . .
That's just stereotypical, not EVERY teen is all over the social network thing.
I never made my first post on the internet until I was nearly 16. (Yes it was on a railroad forum)
Let's not jump to conclusions.
Regards,
S. Connor
At 16, (1958) we were lucky to have a color tv, let alone all the gadget's they have now aday's. I believe that may be part of the problem....too much, too fast and hardly ever need to think any more, let alone spell and learn how to write a letter. But that's My opinion.
Take Care, All!
Frank
Lets all just leave the fella alone. He jumped the gun and said something he didn't even mean and now everybody got the wrong idea. He apologized for what he did wrong. He is probably very embarrassed by everybody jumping on him like that. Give him some respect for working up the courage to apologize like that. That's not something you would see in very many teens today at all. Now SOO Line Fan, I think your comment "shut up and move on" was pretty immature. It literally contradicts EVERYTHING everybody said about respect. Especially give respect to get respect. What did he do to you? Just a thought. Outlaw over and out...
Indianapolis Railroad - Indy Rail! Route of the Brickyard Flyer! Established 1976.
A lesson for the OP to be learned:
"You are the master of the unspoken word, but once spoken you become it's slave"
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
ACY Something to think about.
Something to think about.
Yeah, but the system's also less complicated and there's more margin for error! Plus we know how cars work because we invented them. We're, uh, less clear on the how people work.
Jerry, I'm almost 70 years old but I can still remember being your age.I believe those of us who can remember being your age (oviously some of them can't or won't) can understand where your coming from.
Just do us a favor and try to remember that respect is earned by showing respect.I think you just did that.
To the original poster (OP) GTW, we don't hate you. We don't know you well enough, and probably don't really care to at this point, to hate you...or to like you. With so little to go on, particularly to your very first post ever, you should be extra careful about your use of word strings that have probably gotten you in hot water previously, maybe even with your mom and dad. Slagging your dad, who was not present to read what you said and to offer a defense of himself, was an unethical thing to do. You would not have appreciated learning that your monkey-brained dad was using a computer and talking about his lazy unco-operative son to peers on his own forum....would you?
"Do unto others...."
We can put that first misstep aside, now that you have atoned for it, and we should let you start afresh. You have already learned that two people who share a hobby of any kind are hardly ever going to agree on all the things any one of them finds important. What sticks out, eventually, are the differences, and they can cause a lot of frustration, perhaps even the anymosity we read in your other thread.
Conflict is inevitable when at least two people are sharing a limited resource. It could be money, time, interest, space, materials....you name it. Quite often, they can agree to sit down and try to negotiate a way ahead, but that means both of you will have to offer up something....to give it up. At some point, you can both shake hands on a blueprint for the future of the enterprise, and that will be your contract with each other. If you were to do this with a professional mediator present, that person would insist that you both sign duplicate copies of an agreement that you both can live with. That's what makes it a promise between you, or a contract.
Good luck.
Nittany:
Did you think I was serious? The point was not to say that M.D.'s don't need to have a lot of knowledge. The point was that mechanics deserve respect for their abilities too. The best doctor in the world can't save your life if his car broke down & he can't get to you.
If he were truly sorry he would have edited his monkey brain comments about his father in the first thread. But then that would make too much sense
S. ConnorLet's not jump to conclusions.
Jumping to conclusions is the most exercise that many of us get.
LION did not read that. Maybe him knows not yet how to edit on this forum.
Be that as it may, we have plenty of real monkeys in this zoo, and most of them are pretty smart (as far as primates go) But they cannot possibly be as smart as LIONS, because they are so easy to catch and eat. (Well, not in a zoo... the zookeeper places our respective enclosures a goodly distance apart... but it matters not, he also brings us tasty meat to eat, so all is forgiven.)
So if he is a troll...what would be the point of returning and apologizing?
Isn't just better to give Jerry the benefit of the doubt and accept what he said?
Amen. Now lets all get back to the trains, okay?
To the OP: {calling you "GTW" for short.}
Thank you for apologizing about your father.That was a grown-up manly thing to do as many grownups and parents don't know how to do so.
~As I alluded to in my post to your other thread {all sarcastic, but yet ringing some truth}: there are kids who would simply die {figuratively} to have a father in their life! There are kids who are beaten senseless or abused in other ways by a father they DO have. SO, it is easy to jump on you hard for explaining your father in such adjectival manners.
~I don't supposed you liked some of the manners to which you were referred in the other thread, either. As said, Do unto others, or treat your neighbor as you would yourself, etc. are all good phrases to learn and KEEP in mind always. As George Bernard Shaw said {an old dead fogie to you probably} "Do unto others as you expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same".
~in some ways we cannot blame you as you are 16,and they seem to not teach manners anymore in school or at home. So suppose you never learned any at school and your hard working parents may not have time to teach you properly.
~ The important thing is that you learned from this experience? What DID you learn?
~ You might be surprised to know what your father's true thoughts are about YOU, {"that know-it-all spoiled rotten bratty kid of mine" for instance}.
Now, On to your Question/statement:
Just because your grandfather or great grand father{I can't remember which now} worked for the GTW doesn't mean your father MUST model that IF he likes the B&O or C&O {or both being incarnates} instead! The two are NOT intertwined. Your father Obviously didn't carry on what his father did, and is an auto mechanic instead. So, why should he want to model something just because his father worked on that RR?
~AS I said in the other thread, let your father do his thing, and if you work for money to buy your favorites, and IF he grants you real estate {AKA space}in HIS house to build your own GTW, then you can proceed on your own.
~Until then, if you want "father/son moments" that many would wish to have, share in what HE wants to model...even if it is the venerable "It's My RR and I'll run what I wanna" on his part.
~"Sharing" and "not getting your way in life" are lessons well learned now, son.
Have a good New Year, and cherrish your father now, he is IN your life, and will be if you treat him with some respect. Some day you will actually MISS him. Take it from those who have been there/done that, or who never had one at all.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
"After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it."
Galaxy I think you have it wrong.It is ovious that the humans did it.The Aliens gave up and left while they were still ahead.
You could make use of that little button in the lower right that says "edit" and just substitute what you wrote with {place in brackets} "I wrote something that I regret here"
That way when someone digs this thread up ten years from now you don't have to relive the embarassment.
Maybe, just one other hint, your mother may not care to have her personal medical conditions shared with the rest of the world...
Just sayin'
Ed
Catt: I sent you a PM {Private Message} so as to not knock this thread off topic!
My dad applied for a position on GTW and was tested on his welding skill but he failed that test miserably (He's a much better welder today just because of learning from that mistake). He had such a cold weld that what ever was being welded just fell apart