I had actually deleted the post mentioned below just as Brent was posting. It was unfair
to say that someone was "following" someone else's lead by making the comment they
did. Perhaps Brent is correct in saying that the BB can be like a poison by focusing some
on their "victimization". But to me there are two extremes: You can ALWAYS be the victim,
and that is all you talk about, or you can say "I'm beyond all of that" and act as though
none of it ever happened. There is a danger in both extremes.
In the first extreme you never live beyond what happened before, but in the other extreme
there is the danger of forgetting what happened and repeating the same mistakes. Everyone
has their own definition of what the BB is, or what it should be. When I said I was "immune"
it was a figure of speech--because I know I am drawn to the BB because of the past--to say
differently would be a lie. I am "linked" together with several other people due to a past ex-
perience and life style. Did I first come to the BB to talk about the Beatles? No, I came to
find answers, exchange ideas, and give my own testimony to past events.
As time has gone on I come more and more just to read the tamer threads, to talk about
music, and other every day hobbies, etc., but what links me, and continues to draw all of
the "guests" and "users" to the board is a common Assembly "experience" we all went
through. That was the true poison, not this BB. Brent is correct in stating that it is not
healthy to go through life rehashing the past--and that truly is a type of poison. But in
some ways it will always be with me, like a scar someone has on their face. When someone
asks them "How did you get that?" they repeat the old story "Oh, I fell off a bike when I
was ten years old", etc. So, like that scar, the Assembly will always be part of me. "Hey,
what do you know about the Assembly?" "Oh, I was part of that group a long time ago,
etc. etc." The scar doesn't have to keep me from living a great life, but it will always be
a reminder of an error I made a long time ago.
--Joe
Joe,
I want you to remember that crash. I want you to feel the pain. I want you to remember suing the bicycle company, and I want you to remind yourself that it wasn't your fault you fell off that bike...it was Schwinn's fault.
Everyone here has fallen off a bike, and in each and every case, it was due to a faulty bike, or a person who didn't adjust the seat properly. It wasn't our fault! We still hurt from this.
As an expert bicycle rider, I want to make sure that no one forgets how my bike, and the people who built it wrong are at fault, because it caused me pain. I want to be able to teach people how to ride, and tell them what kind of bikes to buy, because I'm an expert bike rider.
At the same time, as an expert rider, I don't want people to forget how faulty bikes caused us to get hurt....
Brent
