Dear List Family,
My computer was down for more than two weeks
and has been behaving
erratically since and so I am once again on a 'loaner'
machine. I have had
to wade through over 1500 emails, and that's just this
list! My 'real'
family are sick and tired of the computer speaking to me.
Being cut off from
the cyber family left me feeling bereft and
empty.
Which brings me to my point. The bickering, the lurking, the large
amount of
posts by relatively few members are typical of a family. We have
five
children with us at the moment and there is bickering and so is
it
surprising with 1800 in the cyber family? Like a family though,
the
bickering is amongst ourselves - Oh woe betide the outsider that told
my
daughter I was a 'cripple' and so woe unto you the City of Portland and
all
the others that attack or hurt our brothers and sisters on this
list!
The bickering also puts a strain on myself and my loving wife
(caregiver,
mother, nurse, taxi driver, cook, etc who is as deaf as a post
which
combined with my poor speech gives rise to many misunderstandings -
some
funny and some not so). We as parents have to be big enough to take a
stand
on discipline and what is and is not acceptable in the home. The
decisions
are sometimes not popular with all and sometimes, yes I admit it,
the
decisions we make are wrong. The list owners or moderators or whatever
they
are called, are effectively the "Mom" and "Dad" of
this our cyber family, I
think. So they have to take the stand and risk their
popularity and yes they
are human and so will make mistakes and from time to
time be wrong.
All the "non PD" stuff is like conversation and
I must admit that I enjoy
the banter, repartee and yes even the insults and
the apologies. It makes
the cyber family real, distracts from the unneeded
reminder that I have an
incurable disease. Views on religion, sex, LIFE vary
in our home and the
children all have their own views and we encourage them
to express them. I
am not to old or to proud to learn from my family - both
real and cyber. I
never understood all of the pig humour, but miss it
never the less.
When I am able to think, talk and write coherently I will
and when I am not
I will sit quietly and listen to the conversation and
general hub-bub of my
family around me. It is comforting to listen to them.
Its nice to belong and
be loved. [LURK!] You decide which family I speak
of!
I think I have said enough.
Love you all and hope that the
spirit of this festive season is with you,
one
and
all.
DaveSA (Yes we even
have nicknames in our real family)
David J Roll
Port Alfred
South
Africa
LURK = Love, Undisturbed by Rows or
Kisses