[Qcwa] Contest boycotts?

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 17:32:53 +0200

Raymond:

	What an absolutely superb, well written response.  I appreciate your
thoughts, and those of everyone else.  I have to admit, my first =
inclination
is to get mad, but that serves no real purpose.

	I'm glad there are still Hams like you fellows around.  It makes it
all worth it.

73, Bob, K2PI / ON9CPI

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 2:36 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Qcwa] Contest boycotts?

Hello, Bob:

I am in no way surprised. The world (i.e., "the people" in the world) is =
not

today what it was. Not just what was when I was first licensed fifty =
years=20
ago, but even five years ago. Amatuer radio operators all over our own=20
country today are not what they were when we were all first licensed (at =

least twenty-five years ago.)=20

He has a right, I suppose, to respond as he wishes. To talk to whomever =
he=20
chooses to is within all our rights. Yet how he chooses to do what he =
does=20
reveals more about him than it does about you and me. It is totally =
about=20
him, not us.

I am saddened by the downward spiral in the civility in ham ranks that I
have=20
observed over the past several years. But it is nothing more than a=20
reflection of how people today are less civil than they used to be. As =
well,

I have learned through my experiences in countless venues there is =
nothing I

can do to "make" another person be different from what he or she chooses =
to=20
be. If I may, I would suggest that we all be rather careful as to how we =

choose to respond to these rebuffs. These behaviors, as I said, are more =

about them than they are about us. These are the behaviors of people who =

apparently don't know to do anything else. That's why people who are in=20
stages of high anger are called "mad."

Those barbs sent our way are by people who want to "get our goat." I =
worked=20
under an incompetent supervisor (who hasn't?) about whom I once remarked =
in=20
anger and frustration to a colleague, "He just gets my goat!" That =
friend,=20
wiser than I, simply pointed out the only thing under my control, "Stop=20
putting your goat in the front yard."

I was taught that as human beings our anger is directly proportional not =
to=20
what we actually get, but to what we expect and don't get. The ball is =
in
our=20
court. Where we lob it depends totally on us. And if we respond in a=20
mini-war, those who rebuff us have gotten just what they wanted -- to =
prove=20
we are less civil than they.=20

73,        Raymond                W5VPU

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