From: wolffrnd@starburst.umd.edu (The Wolf Friend)
Newsgroups: alt.suicide.holiday
Subject: Re: masochism and death
Date: 27 Jan 93 07:46:53 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: starburst.umd.edu

S106495@UMRVMA.umr.edu (Mike B.) writes:

>>~From: wolffrnd@starburst.umd.edu (The Wolf Friend)
>>
>>                       ... I don't fit into many of the "expected" categories
>>of society, and the difference in my attitude, goals and beliefs tends to
>>elicit either skepticism or outright criticism from those who cannot see
>>beyond the confines of the walls of their own beliefs.  On one level, I
[etc, etc...]
>>--------
>>Kathleen                                    Wolffriend@Kavishar.umd.edu
>
>
>Don't ever assume what the world is like.  I am fairly sure that there are
>many many people who see the way you do, the only problem is that you don't
>know them.  That is one of the advantages of communicatons, like networks.

I'm afraid I'm a tad confused which assumption you are referring to, if any...
The diversity in this world is incredibly vast, perhaps infinite.  And I
wouldn't have it any other way, for that diversity is in itself beautiful to
me.  I personally reserve real doubts that "many many" exist who think the
same as I, but I know that some certainly do because they are my friends. 
However there may be quite a few who feel the same way that I described in my
post, which was only a fraction of the many things I feel and believe. 
Anyway, I agree that it is wise not to make too many assumptions.  And being
skeptical doesn't mean that a person is necessarily closing their mind to
other options; it may mean simply that they are unwilling to wholeheartedly
embrace a particular theory at that time, without further proof.  Though even
the most open-minded don't seem to be immune to doing it occasionally.  Like
you said, everyone makes mistakes... 

>On a different topic?  Poe wrote in a famous essay that he believed all emotion
>had Beauty(i believe he defined beauty something like that)  and the most
>Beautiful of the emotionswas melancholy.  This was the effect he hoped his
>writing would have on people.   It is an interesting concept, an "everything is
> beautiful" philosophy that is not "sunshiney"

Hmmm... yes, that is an interesting notion which I personally hadn't heard 
before.  ALL emotions?  That brings up the question of: is sheer agony
beautiful?  What about hatred?  And if all emotions are indeed beautiful, then
are all actions which stem from emotions of any kind therefore also beautiful?
Even the most negative forms of action?  I know what my own feelings are on
this subject, but I'm curious to hear what others think....

>   -Mike B.
 
---------
Kathleen                                       Wolffriend@Kavishar.umd.edu

I hugged a wolf today... he was young, only eight months old, and wore a chain
collar.  I felt his great jaws close gently but firmly around my arm,
experienced the power behind the playful swats from his huge paws and long
agile legs, watched with amazement as this great animal rolled onto his back
and humbly allowed me to scratch his underside.  His pedigree claimed that he
was 87% wolf and 13% Siberian Husky, and thus he wore the chain and lived in a
house, as a badge of honor to his remote domestic heritage.  But this
knowledge could not conceal the truth contained in his proud yet cautious
stance, the lanky, muscular power of his frame, and most of all the silent
plea in those deeply intelligent eyes.  In their depths, I saw the spirit of a
true wolf calling hopelessly out to the freedom he would never know.  -- 9/2/91