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I want to express appreciation to those who have had nothing to say and
no opinion to offer in the last few days.  I learn from you.

I spent most of my life arguing for a living and don't remember ever
having the other person acknowledge that I had won the argument.
Bystanders maybe; the person I was "debating" with, never.  I was told
once or twice that I was intimidating, but never did I hear the person(s)
I was arguing with utter those three words humans want most to hear,
"Your absolutely right."
(These days I say this to my wife once in a while just to watch her
reaction!)

To those who have been carrying on the spirited discussion, my thanks as
well.  When I was diagnosed a year ago I turned off my TV and haven't
turned it back on, nor have I spent more that a few minutes in the
intervening months reading newspapers.  The fact that I have been reading
all the posts tells me my ego has become frustrated with all this peace,
acceptance and love stuff the other part of me has been working on.  My
ego always has and always will want to keep me separate through judgment
of and conflict with others, using expectations as its justification.
(My expectations are always justified; yours? Never.  If you question
this, ask yourself when you last admitted your anger was not justified or
the other person's was.)

I learned right away that stress isn't good for PWP.  I already knew that
being right seldom leads to happiness because everyone else thinks they
are and conflict is inevitable.  Conflict is stressful, hence, I have
renewed my commitment to being happy rather than right, and I totally
believe one cannot have both at the same time (but I won't argue the
point!).

So again my thanks to all of you, participants and silent ones alike.
You are all teachers.  Anyone in need of a waterboy?

Love
Chuck