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Re: A Dance called America

Hi Annie,

Just got home after a 20 hr. drive  from Florida  (I know, poor me!) and I just have to thank you for your soccer story.  Being the mom of two Sinclair kids, who never made
it big on the field (my daughter was always looking for 4-leaf clovers - and actually found one during the 1 game that they won all season.  Naturally, she figured out that
she was responsible for the win!).

Maybe that's what I like about the Sinclairs - sometimes they lead.....from behind!

Thanks all of you for such interesting email.  Now I have to read the bad news - snailmail, snailbills, etc.  Yuk.

Toni

Annie wrote:

  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 -----
From: rob
To: sinclair@mids.orgSent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 1:47 AMSubject: 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