A very important subject

[Stephen Whiteside]

This is a very important subject, and I think it should be discussed by the ABPA membership as a matter of urgency - hence this posting.

I realise that not everybody will agree, but I am told we are a broad church after all. Perhaps I shouldn't use the word church. I am sure there are plenty of agnostics and atheiests amongst us.

Not so long ago, of course, there was a broad consensus - perhaps there will be again in the not too distant future - but we live in interesting times.

I remember discussing it with my father, and we had quite violent arguments about it - but then, of course, he and I were of different generations.

Sometimes these sorts of arguments resolve themselves along gender - sorry, sex - lines, sometimes on age/generation lines, sometimes on class lines. I've noticed an association with rugby league supporters, but whether that is true 'cause and effect' or simple correlation is the critical question of course, and not an easy one to answer.

Then again, the ancient Romans were known to worry about it, too, so there's really nothing new under the sun, is there?

My own gut feeling is that it is not quite as important as everybody believes, and it will probably sort itself out in the passage of time - though, of course, a large number of people may be hurt between now and then. And that, of course, ideally, is what I would like to avoid.

Sometimes when you're looking at all this big picture stuff it's easy to forget that the mass is just made up of individuals.

There may come a time when people will laugh at the suggestion that we could have tied ourselves up in knots over something that appears to them so trivial, but hasn't that happened throughout history over and over again?

So, I say again, this is very important. Think carefully before you act, and ask yourself, would you be happy to be treated in the same way you are recommending others be treated now?

[Maureen K Clifford]

and what are we in knots about now - sorry if I'm thick

[Bob Pacey]

WWrrrrrrrrrrr I think you got a bite there Stephen reel her in mate !!

[warooa]

The doc's been sampling stuff from the medicine cabinet again has he




Marty

ps. I'm having a drink after that

[Stephen Whiteside]

Maureen, if anything is to be our undoing, it is surely complacency. It is nice to know at least you care.

I once knew a chicken who was complacent. Thought nothing bad would ever happen, and things would just keep going on the same way they always had. Last time I checked, he was a duck. Mind you, it could have been worse. He could have been an eagle.

Now, you might think that odd. Wouldn't it be more exciting to be an eagle than a duck? But it's hard work being an eagle. You have to hunt. Ducks can eat any old muck down the bottom of the pond. (Unless there's a drought, of course.) Have you ever seen a starving duck? No. Have you ever seen a starving eagle? Of course you have. QED.

Mind you, I think he preferred being a duck, but that's beside the point. He was just lucky. Next time he might not be so lucky. And that's my point!

Thank you, Maureen. Thank you for caring.

[warooa]

Important = complacent chook

He's appealing to your softer, wild-life caring side Maureen, ie complacent chooks, lucky ducks and starving eagles.

He's also rocking backwards and forwards in the corner semi-comatose dribbling just slightly

[Maureen K Clifford]

Oh Marty you are a bloody cynic Stephen just likes throwing the odd thing into the mix to see what comes out the other end. I get it eventually

My dad often warned us not to throw the cat amongst the pigeons if you were a pigeon fancier

[David Campbell]

Thank you, Stephen, for raising this, but I'm afraid you're a little off the Mark (as identified by at least one broad church) in that it’s not a very important subject, but a very important object. Why? Because it follows the verb, as one is forced to do when tying oneself in knots. If an eagle is the subject, then a duck may very well be the object.

The object is far more important than everyone believes and was greatly underestimated by the ancient Romans. (After all, what did they ever do for us? We have no aqueducts.) Last time we had a broad consensus I put down that I was a Vulcan who only worshipped once a year at the Vulcanalia Festival and they sent me a new space heater called the Nimoy.

I have tried to resolve this discussion along sex lines but my memory isn’t what it used to be and I keep forgetting them. Not to worry…my fallback position has always been to lie down. It’s safer that way. And always do unto others as they would have done to you if you hadn’t done it to them first.

Let that be an object lesson to you all!

[Maureen K Clifford]

I thought men came from Mars David - obviously I was wrong again

[Neville Briggs]

So, I say again, this is very important. Think carefully before you act, and ask yourself, would you be happy to be treated in the same way you are recommending others be treated now?

I assumed that the so-called "golden rule" is what Stephen was alluding to all along.