"jeff" wrote in message
...

i reckon there is a southern cultural or genetic influence that assures
one is neither clinical, analytical, nor critical about the death of
anyone...especially someone with the significant status of a dog.

I suspect that any perceived geographic divide in such matters is illusory.
While it would be both disingenuous and futile for me to deny that I live in
a northern state, I remain, to the best of my knowledge, the only person in
this group who has publicly noted kennie's propensity to express contempt
for everybody AND his routine (and largely successful) efforts to temper the
consequences thereof by a reliance on the basic decency of his targets in
trading on the triumphs and tragedies of his family and pets for approbation
and sympathy. Disproportionate as many here seem to feel my influence may
be, I maintain that I (N=1) am nevertheless too small a sample to yield any
statistically significant results or conclusions.

we all vibrate in this fog in different ways.

Indeed. Some produce mellow tones that harmonize well, while others yield
only a screeching dissonance. And then there's the matter of disparate
individual tastes.

tolerance. empathy. i think they may be the most important of traits in a
too-crowded world.

I agree. And I, for one, am encouraged by the displays of such that we
often we see here. In the instant case, for example, it speaks well for
humanity that so many who have been so frequently, roundly and gratuitously
abused by the OP can still be swayed by tolerance and empathy. However, if
history and personal experience are teachers worth paying attention to, then
we all know that tolerance and empathy are of little use in making this
world a better place so long as their application is not reciprocal. A one
way street is a good place to be if it leads where you want to go.....and a
bad one if it leads away.

probably why i look for remote spots. i dunno...

As you know, I like such spots myself. But a too heavy reliance on them
(more and more problematic as time and progress march on and less and less
of them remain.....but that's another rant) is tantamount to an expression
of hopelessness. Besides, I have yet to find the means to survive
indefinitely in such a spot. For the time being, I have no choice but to
remain here in the trenches.....and as long as I'm here, well, crouching in
the muck on the bottom while all the interesting stuff whizzes by overhead
just isn't my style.

Wolfgang