Forgotten MK wrote:
Ornery, Thank you SO much for posting this! And I loved reading the letter from GRACE! Keep it up Fanda Eagles! YOU did this!! If you ever feel like you're going to burn out, I hope you'll remember this tiny little glimpse of hope. I recognize that this is too little to late, and at the same time, I am seeing CHANGE. Even the baby steps NTM takes at this point are encouraging. This is why we press on.
Mr. Long, Larry Brown's efforts are to save other children and to find justice for these MKs. By GRACE's recommendation alone, he didn't have to do what he did. Is a firefighter just doing his job when he climbs a ladder to look into another window, just in case there might be another child in a burning building? So what if it's his duty. As I look at NTM's past, I'm just glad he did what he should have done all along because NTM doesn't have a very good history in this area. As OT said, he could have sent someone else to do that, but it shows us that this issue is becoming more important to NTM. It's a small bright spot for the Fanda Eagles, who haven't seen very many bright spots for decades. I hope you can celebrate that with them, as I'm sure you do. But this particular topic might not be the place for pointing out more darkness ahead (but I'm open to correction on this from the Eagles, if necessary).
I only raised the questions I did because I was in the dark, something I am capable of being even at high noon, outside.
I did not mean to question the veracity of Sir Ornery. I value his opinions and expertise; that is why I asked
him, not someone else. I had not seen the detailed letter sent out by GRACE, and the NTM blurb used the exact same language as the GRACE report suggestions. Ornery Thornery was posting enticing morsels that made me hungry, metaphorically speaking, and I didn't know where they were coming from. To change the metaphor, I felt like I had wandered into the wrong home room and everyone was laughing at a joke that I hadn't even heard.
Before I posted my questions to Sir Ornery, I edited out a line that said, "I would like to join the celebration." I took it out because it sounded too much like I was trying to find a place at a table that was not set for me, somewhat like sneaking into a state dinner to grab some quick snapshots with Joe Biden. But, I was trying to belly up to the table because I was hungry, not vain. "Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry." Please do not despise me. My soul was famished.
These forums can give rise to serious misunderstandings, and my frequent and sometimes disjointed posts probably do not help. Picking the wrong words can also have devastating effects. I remember with shame saying "mitigate" when I meant to say "militate" in an interview with the BBC. (They honored my appalling ignorance by making sure that particular line made it on the air!) Somewhere on these forums, I wrote "approbation" when I meant "opprobrium." This is what happens when I am
trying to get it right. And it is only a small sample. I am too shy to mention the real zingers.
I tried (and humiliatingly failed) to assure readers that I was not casting doubt on who did what; I even said that. I was in total ignorance of the source of all the euphoria, a lack that MK sheri supplied. I took the time to thank her for her post, and said that I hadn't seen the letter before. I will add that my post would never have been made had I seen it first.
I regret saying anything that would indicate that I think the Fanda Eagles are in any way more courageous than Larry Brown and the other leaders who did the job they should have done long ago. It is cruel and thoughtless to demean another person's firmly held convictions, sincerely performed duties. In my defense, I did not know I was doing that. To my shame, I did it anyway.
Not meaning evil is a poor substitute for
meaning well; it is offering up a serpent when one begs an egg.
I am indebted to Forgotten MK's gentle rebuke. I agree: this thread is not the proper place to point out darkness, raise questions. I didn't mean to bring anybody down; I am happy to have good reason to celebrate the courageous baby steps and brave small bright spots after waiting decades; it is a start, and it
should be celebrated. We celebrate New Years, don't we? Yet it is just a start, a promise of what the future could hold. I am speechless just trying to imagine where these baby steps could lead in the next few decades. It's staggering.
You are correct in your generous assumption, Forgotten MK - I
do celebrate these wonderful events. I acknowledge your kindness in giving me this benefit of the doubt. I appreciate the undeserved vote of confidence, doubly so in light of my miserably worded post. I would ask that my post be removed, but I'd rather it stay up as a good example of a poor post, a reminder to me, if no one else, of the need to be chose one's words with care.
I will not even
attempt to express my admiration for the brave men on the Executive Board who, in spite of not having a good history in this area, actually went
by themselves to report these crimes and alert the police. It is so much like firefighters doing their duty, braving the flames of a burning building, just in case there is more they can do. Totally awesome!