Be good to each other

benjs

I feel like these days, tensions are heated, opinions are polarized, people are scared or uncomfortable, and we're just not being as good as we can to each other.

I just found out that a little sister of a close friend just passed, and it's hit me hard. She wasn't even 25. I'm treating this as a reminder of what matters, and what doesn't. Our decency, and care and concern for each other, is what matters most. She was such a good person, and she didn't get the opportunity to show that goodness to the world for as long as she should have.

I apologize for all of my heated remarks, condescension over the years, mockery, and anything else that may have degraded the discourse on here. I'm going to try to do better, even if that means increasingly saying less and listening more. We owe it to each other. Any of us could just as easily drop dead tomorrow, and everything we've said to-date would be our legacy.

DE4173

❤️

josevolution

My condolences to you and the family during these tough times! I’m trying my hardest to stay positive healthy and sane I find that staying away from folks and just be in my own bubble helps me.

Gern Blansten

sorry man...that's awful

Merkin Baller

Sorry about your friend's sister, Benjs, and the sentiment of your post is well received (at least personally). 

I hope you reconsider letting your membership go this year. Your perspective is one of the more grounded on this forum and you'll be missed if / when you're gone. 

brianlux

Losing someone young is the hardest thing, Ben.  I'm so sorry for your loss.

Thank you for you words and good reminders, Ben.  As Merkin Baller so well put it, your presence here is a benefit to us all.  You mentioned what you refer to as "heated remarks, condescension over the years, mockery, and anything else that may have degraded the discourse on here", and though that may have been true a few times here, I would characterize the strong majority of your input on these forums as intelligent, informed, caring, and impassioned with the desire for a better world.  This is a better place with you being here, and I am grateful for your presence and friendship.

cblock4life

My sister was 30 with 3 small children when she passed.  Our family was never the same again.  My sympathies to you and your friends family.  It’s heart wrenching. 

As for your apology, always remember we all are human.  We all say things at times that we don’t really mean.  And honestly, I have no idea if you and I ever got into it.  Grudges eat up too much emotion, time, happiness…..

No reason to end your membership.  

All I can say is just be there for your friend.  Everyone in that family is dealing with the most unbearable feelings and sometimes it’s too hard to be there for each other while dealing with such incredible loss.  That’s where you come in.  You don’t need words.  Just hold him and cry with him. That is what they need most.  

You’re a good person or you wouldn’t have even thought to post an apology.  Take care….

lastexitlondon

Brilliant reminder.
Love to you.
Love to everyone.

brianlux

Inspiring us to all be better.  You folks are amazing.

Just the other day, someone gave me a copy of the Youngbloods self titled LP.  I've often thought they were an over-rated band best known for what I thought of as a naive song, "Get Together".  Well, as it turns out, when I sat down and gave this album an honest listen, the musicianship caught me by surprise.  These guys were a band of fine players.  And that naive song?  Well, it seems to have finally now sunk into me that it's something worth considering:

Get Together

Love is but a song we sing
Fear's the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry
Though the bird is on the wing
And you may not know why

Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now

Some may come and some may go
He will surely pass
When the one that left us here
Returns for us at last
We are but a moment's sunlight
Fading in the grass

Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now

cincybearcat

I'm sorry for your and your friend's loss.  Awful.

gotthebottle

Sad to lose someone so young, powerful words. So much hate in world... didn't used to be this bad,.. we need to do better