> However, I can't help but feel angry by your dismissal of my beliefs I did not dismiss your beliefs, nor did I mock them. When I said "in deference to Peter's hot-button issue of food expiration," there was no perjoration or sarcasm attached to that. I said precisely, exactly, what I meant: in order to avoid tromping on something that is a sensitive subject for you, I elected to use other examples. You may wish to rethink whether that amounts to a dismissal of your beliefs or consideration of them.
> But even if you are of stone, maybe you should remember that it's > actual people you are conversing with who have emotions and might > feel strongly about things. We are not our ideas. Our ideas are separate things from us, and one can be a virtuous and commendable soul even if one's notions are nonsense. A Young-Earth Creationist who volunteers to feed the hungry is still showing great personal virtue. Their idea may be flamingly wrong, but only a heartless fool would think that fact should somehow diminish their worth or value. We live in a society that encourages us to wear labels. Atheist. Agnostic. Buddhist. European. American. Black. White. Arab. There's nothing wrong with those labels, really -- but there's something wrong with letting ourselves *be defined by* our labels. And in the end, the ideas you hold are just another label. Don't let your labels define you. Especially don't let them define your self-worth. You are more, and richer, than that. We all are. Not just everyone on this mailing list, but every human being throughout the world. (Even the ones currently kidnapped on Zarbnulax.) I'm sending this to the entire list because it's something I'd like to tell the entire list. None of us are our ideas. It is normal and natural for ideas to come into violent collision. If your idea prevails, congratulations, but that doesn't make you a better human being. If your idea doesn't, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it: no one worth knowing would think that having an incorrect idea was any kind of reflection on you as a person. You certainly don't have to agree with any of this. They're just ideas, after all... _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
