BS: Good directions

Subject: Good directions
From: Chet W.
Date: 18 Feb 00 - 04:58 PM

I just wanted to say that I think the Mudcat has been really improving lately. People are submitting original poems and songs, both serious and not, and there are a number of new people with interesting things to say and a good sense of humor (which is to say, like mine). After all the turmoil we experienced in recent times, it does seem that the light is shining again.

In all seriousness, Chet

Subject: RE: BS: Good directions
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Feb 00 - 05:14 PM

Hi Chet!

I am glad to hear your thoughts because I have noticed that some of us newer members are extremely eager and positive-minded; I know that in some cases this is quite a deliberate response, to what we would refer to at our home as "The Late Unpleasantness." (This is the shorthand my husband and I use for anything bad that we know happened and want to validate, but that we do not want to get into, reopen, re-feel, restimulate, etc.)

Something that has really helped me as a new member, in feeling at home and safe here, is knowing that the people who stuck with this group during the Late Un-P are largely people who made a decision not to go away. And that isn't to say that I think that the people who left didn't care-- just that the ones who have stayed are the ones actually can and will handle crap and not get swamped in whatever old feelings there are. They are welcoming, helpful, encouraging, and patient with us new folks.

In my work, it's often me who is acting as the agent for change, working against a tide of resistance, discouragement, and other negativity. I can feel it and smell it when a system is closed and does not really want to grow. This place is not at all resistant as far as I have seen for myself. And so it makes it easy to lend my own help, not only to hhelp find answers to requests and encourage new people to become regulars, but to help keep this a place where people have the dignity of safety. (From safety comes the desire to risk our own discomfort to grow.)

So I just want to encourage all the people like me, who may find it hard to encompass the concept that Mudcat was ever NOT a nice place to be, because it is so wonderful. I am truly sorry if it is not presently as wonderful as some of you had experienced at some point in the past. I have had losses like that too and they hurt a long time. But I do also encourage the newcomers to just let the old stuff stay in the past. You do not need to dig it up to enjoy the coffee, the tunes, the jokes, the chance to learn and grow, here with your peers. You have too much to share, and so does everyone here, to dwell on crap, and the world needs us to take in what we can and then share it back out again.

I count on Mudcat to be a place that directs us to our best and to giving our best to the communities in which we move.