I enjoyed your thoughts Rob.
There is strength that I admire and cherish in others
above all other human accomplishment. The power of kindness, forgiveness. It
takes more power and worth to be remembered this way than to be the one who
fought the big battle and to win. To unite rather than fight. That's real
power!
On the weekend I watched six year old boys play a game of
soccer. The parents were screaming from the side lines (And getting rather
aggressive) one little boy was called names throughout the whole game. Last
ten minutes of the game he had the ball for the first time. There was a
struggle for possession and a member of his opposing team fell and started to
cry. So the little boy with the ball, let the ball go, even though he was
being screamed at by fellow members to forge ahead. He sat beside the
fallen one and offered comfort. This is as great a strength as I have ever
read or seen in another. He was being the best he could be. Sometimes the
simple little things make us hero's. This little man will be remembered by me
forever.
Annie
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 1:47 AM
Subject: Re: A Dance called America
being surrounded by descendants of Scottish
and other exports each day...and living in a place where human beings continue
to be our #1 export...has led me to some thoughts...
Like any cultural group,
whether defined by geography, blood ties, or community of interest, it would
not be productive to categorize the components of any group of humans as being
any one thing...there is much to be said for individual responsibility and
development...
As far as my reading has
illuminated, people who came to the New World, including Scots, were a mix of
common criminals and intellectuals, military leaders, farmers and slaves;
women and men, priests of God and rogues, gay and straight, black and white,
good bad and indifferent...Church leaders and those building a New World away
from them...the rich and the poor...and out of this list and more, who can
tell whom is really which centuries ago..
the story of any great
creation is a similar path...history as we read it today is the result of the
victor's consolidation of views, for political and intellectual reasons...no
matter what the access-to-information-other-than-standard-views that we now
enjoy through the internet, sources are limited and great amounts of study
take many long years...understanding is elusive...
I think we should all
beware the pursuit of categorizing one human group as being
bigger-faster-stronger than another...it apparently leads to global wars...the
pursuit of individual Sinclair Stories is a good one...it is human beings who
accomplish - groups who share or control...
I work each day with people
from a dozen different established local cultures, the leaders and the
criminals, the sacred and the profane...I work with Maritimers around the
world and people from around the world who come to live here...
as for those who came here so long ago, some are survivors and builders as
individuals, some are not...
no matter what their other categorizations...
some Sinclairs were great leaders of humankind...
some are not...
sometimes I'm right,
sometimes I'm wrong,
sometimes what's right for today is wrong three years later...
rob