posted
This is rather strange. I kind of skipped over 2000 posts because I really didn’t have anything worth saying that was important. I figured, if you don’t have anything to say, then why write a landmark? Now that I have reached 3000 posts, I realize that this is significant for me because of the extremely shy person that I am, and I am much more at home than when I only had 2000 posts. I felt pretty comfortable telling you all about what my life had consisted of when I reached 1000 posts, but I didn’t divulge anything that was even moderately personal that wasn’t just common knowledge to all that knew me anyway.
I just want to say how glad I am that I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m not going to copy Eddie’s landmark, but I will say that you guys have been as welcoming a family. That statement of his continues to prove to have more and more merit every day I continue to participate in this forum.
There is not a one person here that I would not like to meet in person, not one of you I would dread to see. I don’t know how some of you feel about me, because to be honest, I have had some rather radical opinions in the past, but this forum has helped me shape my beliefs and opinions. I am a much more certain person in the things I believe in because of everybody here. And it’s not due to the people agreeing with me. Yes, everybody likes to be on the same “train-of-thought” or “bandwagon” if you will, but the people who have really helped are the ones who challenged my ideas. The ones have criticized my very ideals that are core to all of my beliefs.
I have changed over the past two years. I have changed a lot of my ideas since then. I have changed a lot of things on how I view homosexuality, how my church just told me that they were all sinners and horrible to continue to give in to that sin. Specifically, Eddie helped me with that one. My church can believe what they want, but until Eddie showed me the bigotry that they were preaching (which I believed for a brief time); I felt that I needed to belong to conform. That is simply one example.
There are many people that did this, and while I wasn’t grateful to be proven wrong at the time, I am very grateful that they did so. This very forum (and everybody in it) has helped break the need to be conformers (not just me, everybody), and created the ability to be leaders, to some degree. Now, I’m not a “leader” in everything that I do, but I do stand more firm in my beliefs, and I make sure they are backed up by fact—not popular opinion—as often as possible. A trait that most people believe they have, but few really possess.
That is just one thing that the Hatrack community has taught me. The ability to perceive when somebody is joking or messing with me. Jon Boy and Ralphie in particular have been beyond patient with my inability to understand a simple joke. I have gotten a lot better about that, but not totally up to par yet, as I’m sure they already know. I have always had a hard time with people who are NEVER serious. I wish that will change soon, but it won’t. I will try.
There really is no point in listing all of the things that I have learned from all of you (even the newbies, though they can be too shy to voice they opinion at first, which is too bad). The list itself would be pages long. I just want to express my thanks for everything all of you have taught me over the past few years, and I hope this community stays around for at least a few more years to come. I’m only nineteen years old, and I have much to learn.
My question is: can I ever give back to the community as much as it has given me? I doubt it. I don’t know if any of us can give back as much as we have received from Hatrack. I have received moral support from numerous people (tt&t ), and deeply appreciate it.
Being happy with the community is great, but would we have a community with the people who are here to ensure that the forum stays up and running? Kristine and Kathryn, we all appreciate you (even the ones who are mad about John being banned), and we hope that Hatrack will stay around.
The thing I am most grateful for is the very thing that brought us all and all of our ideas together as a whole. It was the writing a very brilliant man, Orson Scott Card. I had actually never read a book cover to cover by the time I picked up Ender’s game on my second day of high school. It was required reading for my freshman (ninth grade) English class.
The sad thing about California school systems is that I was not among the minority with my ignorance of literature. Very few kids enjoyed reading and they were generally social outcasts. I later befriended them (I still hang out with them occasionally). It’s too bad that we have to push away what we don’t understand. We have to push away our intellectual superiors out of fear. I was a social outcast myself, but that was because of my reputation as a fighter in middle school (seventh and eighth grade), and because I have a higher than average IQ (but I’m still far from a genius). Because of that, I didn’t feel so inclined to push the “social outcasts” away.
They read the book Ender’s Game within a week, and they convinced me to try reading it. I was of course immediately skeptical, because if I was “one of them”, I would never fit in with the people I thought were the ones to be with. How ironic, that I found myself identifying with Ender from the very beginning. He was picked on because he was a “third”. It was because of this book that I chose not to part of that “in-crowd”. I began to equate Ender’s situation with my own, and it made everything make sense. I understood the mentality of the heckling and harassment.
I began to read Speaker for the Dead that next summer. I read all the time. I read during breaks, lunch, and sometimes even during class when my work was finished. I didn’t have much of a social life, but I was not disliked. I was far from popular. I always had the latest OSC book in my bag, or in my pocket. In a way, some of the wisdom I learned growing up came from OSC’s books. His books made you understand what it was like to be singled out. The wisdom in his books made understanding people almost easy. The ideas in those books were something I believed as soon as I read them. I can’t describe how much OSC’s writing meant to me. I grew up reading his books. In a way, they were a very large part of my maturation as a human being. My only regret is that there isn’t any new writing to read.
EDIT: More accentuated paragraph breaks. Ralphie:
[ May 01, 2004, 12:00 AM: Message edited by: Nick ]
Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Great landmark, Nick. You are a man of strong opinions, and I respect that -- even when I strongly disagree with you. (Which happens less often than when I agree, I think.) But no matter what, you are always courteous, always willing to listen to other opinions.
Congrats on 3000! I'm glad we're both members of the Hatrack family.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:I have always had a hard time with people who are NEVER serious.
There's nothing wrong with that, Nick. My personal opinion is that people who are never serious have something that they're afraid of, something that doesn't quite let them be their plain old honest (boring?) selves. It bothers me too. Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Nick, I know it did. I guess I simply disagree with your evaluation of your posting style -- at least what I've seen of it in the year I've been here.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Jon Boy and Ralphie in particular have been beyond patient with my inability to understand a simple joke.
You know, Nick, you were the motivation behind my registering the username "Sarcasm." I thought it might help. Thanks for always being such a good sport.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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You're very, very welcome. I'm glad I was able to help you out at a time when you needed it. Anytime, k?
I'm glad you're around, and I'm sure everyone else is, too. Even if we don't share the same opinion on Toyotas... (I'll talk you around one of these days ) and even if I did once have to tease you for not realising that this (tonguetied&twisted) was actually the tt&t you'd been talking to.
Great landmark, dude. I always enjoy your posts, and I look forwards to many more. You know, when I was talking to you last night (or was it the night before?) about your landmark, you said you still had 50 posts to go before you could post it, and estimated 10 days... Hmm. Well, yay for post-whoring!
Good luck with everything, I know things will work out for you. And stick around!
Posts: 1111 | Registered: May 2003
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tt&t: Yes, today I posted 24 times before work, and 26 posts after. And it was last night that we talked. Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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Congratulations Nick! I've always enjoyed your posts. I noticed as soon as you joined that you were a thougtful and intelligent addition. I think you became a part of the scenery here remarkably quickly. You landmark post was a great one, except for the regrettable lack of any praise for me.
posted
Icarus, the list of friends that I have made here is too long to actually go through and post, but I can assure you that you are are definitely on that list, and have been since day one.
By the way, how are your kids doing in school?
I'm sorry for those I didn't mention. I only mentioned a few things about my experiences here, and like I said, they are far to many to write down. I'm sorry if you feel left out.
[ May 01, 2004, 12:46 AM: Message edited by: Nick ]
Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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I have a habit of asking obnoxious questions sometimes. It's nice to hear from people who've had some difficulty in shaping their communication skills along the way.
I've dug some of your posts that I've encountered, including this one.
And I'll always look at our first (and only) altercation as the initial step in the process of our forcing a sense of humor onto you. Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I've probably (notice how I didn't use the word "prolly") wrangled with you on a few issues, but you were very honest, innocent and clean in all the arguments I had with you. I hope you continue that "critical thinking" that has changed some of your beliefs in the past two years.
quote:We have to push away our intellectual superiors out of fear.
I would suggest that people push away "intellectual superiors" not out of fear but simply because they're different. It's just easy to make fun of those who lack obvious physical and social graces because of their introversion. The social elite are not afraid of the outcasts - well, maybe they were in Carrie. But they weren't in The Breakfast Club! I like to learn all my life lessons from movies and TV. After school specials changed my life. Well, them and the "The More You Know" clips.
Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Nick, what a delightful landmark. I look forward to getting to know you better, and I'm ever so glad you stayed. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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), and deeply appreciate it.![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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You are a man of strong opinions, and I respect that -- even when I strongly disagree with you. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
(Which happens less often than when I agree, I think.) But no matter what, you are always courteous, always willing to listen to other opinions. ![[Hat]](graemlins/hat.gif)
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