Let's move peacefully forward onto great things together
Hello there
I've been wanting an opportunity such as this to arise. I am clearly who I am, you are clearly not revealing yourself. I long ago settled with the C of S. I am not wanting to pick any fights with anyone. I am here to reconnect with old friends.
But this reminds me of a situation that has replayed many times during my life. How to communicate with someone who has different intentions than what they have expressed. Perhaps it is better to not communicate with that person at all. Perhaps that truly is the best solution and is my weakness. Because time after time I have communicated to people that I suspected were there for other reasons than what they expressed. But I have great faith in the goodness of man and I think anyone posting to this site probably in some way truly thinks he is doing the right thing. Me included.
I've been thinking of a time way back in around 1987. An old friend, named Johnny, (real name), contacted us and wanted to stay with us. We could hardly refuse. He was a person that greatly helped me in very difficult times. I will never forget his compassion and help. He was a friend to both of us.
He arrived for the weekend and was settled into the guest bedroom. We were living in a two bedroom house in Redwood City, CA at the time. After dinner, he said he was interested in hearing about a course I was developing at the IRM where I worked as a research assistant. I had nothing to hide, so I said, "of course".
He said he needed to get something and came back to the dining room with a bag which he somewhat nervously placed nearby. We all thought, "Oh, he has a tape recorder in that bag. He is going to record the conversation and take it back to someone else." He said he was out. Somehow it seemed rude to challenge him. It seemed like it would violate too many social conventions to just say, "Come on Johnny, What do you have in that bag?" We loved him. We didn't want to hurt him. He confessed he liked us too. I distinctly remember him saying, "I don't know why, but I really like you guys."
In his own way he was saying, "I'm not supposed to like you guys, but I really do." Somehow we all knew it was a charade but didn't want it to interrupt our friendship. A year later he wrote to us and said he wanted to spend another weekend with us. I never answered. Of course, he knew we knew and probably was secretly relieved he didn't have to go through the ordeal a second time.
But I've wondered did I really handle that in the best way possible. I really do not know. The creator of "The Mayo Challenge" most likely isn't a very dear friend like Johnny. He is more likely just someone who has had a lot of disinformation about us and is just doing his job: trying to do us in.
But I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and at the same time I want to be more direct and not hide the obvious. I want to say: "Whoever you are, show what you have in your bag. Reveal your true identity. Tell us what orders you are following." Maybe then we can resolve our differences. Maybe we can be honest. Maybe we can both work towards a better world without strife.
This is a challenge to you, my friend, (I hope). You know our true identities. Reveal yours. Perhaps we can forgive each other and work together towards a brighter future. I have no bad will towards you. Peace.
(If you have a better idea, now is the time to express it.) This may all seem airy fairy, but I think there has got to be some way to bridge the gap, even though it is most likely wider than the Grand Canyon. The soldiers in the trenches during World War 1 eventually started cooperating with each other because they were in it together for the long haul. Maybe that's the answer. "Hey, you guys in the trenches over there. We are going to be here together for a long time to come. Can we at least have a cup of tea and a couple of bikkies?"