Well....I don't actually feel superior, Don. I'm just saying in all honesty how I truly see it (these lengthy personal arguments here), that's all. I think we're all just keeping our restless minds busy here, and I say that in all humility. I'm no better than you or WAV or anyone else.

I don't know you well enough to have any reason to feel superior to you. I don't know anyone here well enough to have any reason to feel superior to them. Honestly. I do know that some people here are crueler than me or harder than me or stronger than me in some way (and others not), but there are probably reasons why in every case, reasons that I'll never know.

I think the only people I've ever seriously felt superior to or been tempted to are some I've known for many years face to face...mostly close relatives or perhaps a lover or two. (and that's a case of that old demon "familiarity breeds contempt" in action).

I'm not really superior to them either. I'm just different in some way, and our rough edges have bugged the hell out of each other over the years because life brought us together closely, and we couldn't avoid it.

The only thing that I think actually matters is love. We hunger for it all our lives. We grow bitter over love denied, love withheld, love reached for but not grasped. We cling to what little love we have actualized.

I figure at the end of my life that none of the debates and arguments will matter. They'll fade into nothing. Only what love I was able to give and receive will count for anything in the end.

It troubles me to see endless arguments fester between people, because I feel that someone is getting hurt. That's mainly why I don't like it. It's not that I'm observing it like I was looking at germs in a petrie dish. It's not detachment. It's that I think people are getting hurt, and probably unnecessarily.

In other words, I empathize with anyone who is in pain. I always did. The people I get truly angry with are those who delight in causing another's pain. Mercy is a mighty thing. So is compassion. So is forgiveness. Revenge is a simply dreadful thing.

I'm not officially a Christian, not officially of any religion, but I profoundly believe what Jesus taught about mercy, compassion, and not judging others. I try to live that way as best I can. I fall somewhat short, of course, like most people, but I try. ;-)