From: mar@physics.su.OZ.AU (David Mar)
Subject: Re: Interactive musings [long but deep]
Organization: School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 10:53:37 GMT

Danger Mouse has been a little quiet lately. "My time has somehow decided
to eat itself up more quickly than usual. The annoying thing is that I
don't seem to be achieving anything more than I usually do. And I owe
mail to about a dozen people here - sorry folks, I'll get to it as
quickly as I possibly can. But anyway..."

DM looks over to Nick Chopper's chair, under which COAN is sitting,
apparently thinking to himself.

>[COAN] is bemused and slightly troubled, tap.  An intuition of a
>few months ago is climbing back up his spine, tap.  Something about
>the thinness of net.communication, the joys and pains of challenging
>emotionally laden conversation, and his reasons for being here, tap.

"Many reasons for being here," says DM. One or two patrons wonder why he
is speaking with no apparent reason but others, ones who are tuned to the
ways of the Place, merely nod slowly. "Many different people, many
different reasons."

>He's troubled by an internal conflict too.  He's been learning
>that challenging fruitful dynamics are the fulfillment of his life.
>But so often that constitutes himself or other people waving around
>their scary painful fears and scars... it is good to seek these out?

"Seek, and ye shall find." DM signals Mike for a mug of rose-hip tea.
"Sometimes finding things out is worthwhile, and other times not. It is
not easy to tell. That is one of the things which makes life so curious.

"I have known people who have cried out for their fears to be discovered,
to be examined, to be assuaged. And people who have fought with teeth and
claws to keep them hidden away - perhaps not just from me, but from
themselves too. Learning to get along with people and to make solid
friendships is the process of discovering exactly with whom you need to
seek and with whom you should not. It isn't easy, but someone's gotta do
it."

>Somehow, through the ubiquitous ASCII filter, he can see off-trackedness
>far better than beauty.

"Maybe some people aren't looking for beauty. Seek, and ye shall find.
Consider the vibrant bounciness of kitten. Didi's extended garden parties
and birthday celebrations. Nick Chopper's dedication to the Place and the
keeping of the Birthday List. The concerns folks expressed for Spacey and
Space Cadet when Iniki hit. Organisation of RealSpaces and meetings of
people who have never met but by the filter of ASCII.

"Beauty is all around you, but you do need to be looking for it."

>Did he come to the Place solely for other peoples' benefit
>tap?  Surely not, given Spider Robinson's narrative predestination of
>patrons.  COAN too (attn, sjane!) has an unburdening that scritches at
>the recesses of his mind from time to time.  What holds him back tap?
>[...] It's trust, he knows.  He trusts them - they've earned it.
>But would they still trust him?  Would they understand and believe
>that this is no longer a force in his life, that the person he is now
>is so different, so so different, from the protagonist of those
>decade-old memories?  Stillness silence sadness sigh.

"I don't think Spider would be disappointed with this recreation of his
Place. When Hitler entered Callahan's Place, he was turned away, but
_only_ because he was unwilling to apologise for what he did, unwilling
to attempt to change his ways.

"A friend of mine once said that Spider is an obvious believer in the
inherent goodness of people. I would say that a lot of us here are as
well. After all, that's why a lot of us are here. I'm willing to listen
to whatever anyone has to say about themselves.

"Gosh, if anyone just happened to be wondering about this, they might
like to know that my mailbox is always open..."

>Curious Of All Natures stands up, cricks his jaw, licks his leg
>to rub his face with, and is at a loss for words.

DM tosses a dollar coin to Mike, turns to face the fire, and takes a
tentative sip of his tea.

- Danger Mouse.
From: daq@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Doug Quarnstrom)
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 16:13:52 GMT
Subject: Re: Libertarianism
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA