Conference vaxcat::friends

    BTW--are bummer-blues-oriented notes allowed here -- am I breaking a
    ::FRIENDS rule.. mea culpa if I am..moderator, please do with me what
    you will..move or delete as necessary..sorry kids!
    	
    The new kid on the block..Zoe

    
    Hi Zoe,
    
    	I think your ambivalent feeling about Nixon are justiable. Its been
    noiced in a lot many cases. People who at any specific time have been
    subjugated/maliced/harmed in any way, have certain central people who,
    they hold responsible for all the happenings ( now this person may/may
    not be responsible ). Now over the years you try and carry a grudge
    against the same person. Its been noticed that lots of people can't
    hold up the grudges over more than a decade. In their later life they
    tend to be more forgiving and attribute the actions on human nature.
    
    	From going thru what you've written, I feel that you've ,in a way,
    excused nixon from all those excesses you felt he committed. I don't
    think you should feel scared at the loss of the passion with which you
    hated the guy. One never knows what he went thru or is going thru. Like
    I said before, you've gained more understanding of the world in which
    you live.
    
    	In India, we've a saying which roughly translates to
    
    "the age and maturity of a person shows in his/her ability to forgive".
    
    Remember I'm asking you to forgive not forget.
    
    Ravi.

    
    Welcome Zoe.  You've made quite an entrance for yourself, and I love
    it! :*)
    
    I was just a small child when the end of all of this was going on, but
    I do remember how my parent's reacted and how they felt.  They had the
    same hatred that you did, and up until a few years ago, I think they
    still carried those feelings.
    
    I don't know what it was that changed them, but all of a sudden, their
    thoughts on the subject came out as pitty instead of hatred.  I think
    that Ravi is right in saying that maturity has alot to do with it.  I
    think they grew older, but never really matured in their minds.  They
    wanted to be forever young.  When they came to terms with the fact that
    they needed to get old some time, they matured or heart and mind.  I
    think this is what changed them on many issues.  I may be wrong.
    
    The things you said about today's youth not knowing who Hitler really
    was and what a demon he was, really hit home.  I have two small
    children of my own now, and I don't even know if they comprehend this. 
    I think it's not so much that they aren't being taught history, but
    more of a sheltering thing.  Parents try to protect their child in any
    way they can.  This includes sheltering them from the evils of the
    world, and not wanting them to hear about true horror.  I'm not saying
    that this is right, it's just instinct.
    
    Take care, and enjoy your maturity in this matter. What you said makes
    so much sense.  It really made me think.
    
    Thank you!
    
    Terrie
    

Just a small nitpick for the new friend

Nixon retired to his California home in San Clemente which was called Casa
Pacifica, San Simeon is the home of Hearst Castle which William R. Hearst built
for Marion Davies.

Welcome
Tom

    re: .2
    Dear Ravi,
    
    Thanks for the bit about okay to forgive, not forget...that really
    puts it into perspective for me!  Thanks!
    
    re: .4
    And Tom...?
    ...surely a "rosebud" by any other name ;-)?
    
    (Yes, dain bramaged me really blew that one..it wasn't just a "nit"
    it was a mistake BIG TIME..oops!)
    
    Thanks for the correction!
    
    ..Zoe
    
    
    
    
                                                  
    

    
    Well everyone, guess that'll be the end of this subject with president
    Nixon having passed away at the good age of 82! May he rest in peace.
             o
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    Re .6
    
    Zoe,
    
    I think that Henry Kissinger summed it all up pretty well upon being
    advised of Richard Nixon's passing.
    
    He said that Richard Nixon did some things that were wrong but that the
    size of what he did for good far outweighed that. For example, it was
    Richard Nixon who brought the USA and China and the USA and Russia
    together. They were quite major achievements!
    
    Don

    re. -1
    Don..
    
    I guess It wasn't how to think of *him* or how to find the good in him,
    so much as *my* confusion about losing my passion and very real
    memories of the horrors he initiated, the wrongs done..how so much has
    faded in my mind, and my fear about if I could *forget* the bad things,
    that they could be *lost* in the ether..well then we won't ever EVER
    learn from mistakes made..
    and as in previous notes..the thought of mass genocide, and Hitler's
    atrocoties being lost, the horrors being forgotten, and not being
    taught with *emotion*, just analyzed..well just look at Bosnia etc. and
    kohmeni (sp?) etc. other leaders who should have been noticed based on
    historical knowledge and MEMORY and passion, that a Hitler-esque, a
    supremecist type of personality could re-emerge, and grow, when it
    should have been recognized and STOPPED (with feeling)....
    Again.. I babble... it's still a hot spot for me, that I have failed in
    some way by not just forgiving, but forgetting....it's a faded memory.
    
    pax,
    
    ..Zoe