"Don Burkes" wrote in message
...
Wolfgang,

I've been reading this newsgroup off and on for some years. In that
time I've picked up the occasional useful tip on flyfishing, but
mostly I've learned what a small mean-spirited misanthrope you are.

I don't suppose it would do much good to suggest that a greater degree
of selectivity might serve you well? I've been reading ROFF for about
five years, if memory serves. Even after discounting endless
repetition I'd guess that in that time I've encountered enough good
fishing information to fill several large books. However, maybe I've
misunderstood your point. Were you perhaps suggesting that your
knowledge of fishing is as encylopedic as is your dossier on me, and
that there is little left to learn of either than an occasional useful
tip?

As to the charge of misanthropy, if twisting the noses of professional
killers, amateur thugs, and their coteries of admirers is
mean-spirited and anti-humanistic, then I plead guilty.

It appears that your greatest pleasure in life is attacking others.

Sorta makes you wonder why I'm not gleefully engaged in butchering
children somewhere in east Asia or the Middle East, don't it?
Actually, there are a number of things that give me greater pleasure.
For example, I'm an avid fly fisher (as a number of the correspondents
here can attest by dint of personal experience), though I confess that
incessant nattering about gear and technique bores me to tears. You
do any fly fishing? Would you care to share some of your experiences
with the rest of us? I also derive a great deal of pleasure from
cooking. There are many other things that please me and that in no
way resemble attacks on others. I guess I could go on and list a few
of them, but I suppose you've got the picture by now.

Your life must truly be miserable;

It has it's rough moments.....like any life, I suppose.....but,
overall, I'd say no, it is not at all miserable. Quite the contrary,
mine has, for the most part, been a pretty easy and rewarding life.
Of course, this is sometimes difficult to keep in mind. There are
days.....days when money gets tight or when the murderous cretins get
too numerous, too close, or too vocal.....when it all seems too much
to bear. But then I look at their preferred targets and I am
instantly reminded that it's been a pretty soft ride for me.

I pity you.

Well, you're a liar.......but, thanks anyway.

I've wondered for some time
what could cause a person to be so mean-spirited.

Any number of things, I suppose. Hemmorhoids would probably do it.
Being raised to believe that killing, maiming, or even simply beating
up those who disagree with or merely recognize you might suffice as
well. I think your best course of action. (if you wish to pursue this
question) is to take the matter up with some of the world class haters
we have here. That's what I do. Granted, it hasn't resulted in any
great illumination just yet, but I remain hopeful.

Do you have some
physical ailment that causes constant pain?

I've got funky knees (a result of a childhood bout with Osgood
Slaters) and the usual array of aging related aches. However, the
pain from the latter is.....thus far, anyway....minor and
intermittent, and the former hasn't bothered me much at all since I
took up bicycling in a serious way back in the 70s. So....no....no
physical ailments that cause constant pain.

Or, perhaps, you were
mercilessly teased as a child because of your funny name.

I grew up in a neighborhood rife with names that you would probably
find funny. We had a Thor, a Dragola, a Sergei, Siegfried, Rufus,
Branca, Santo, Emeliana.......others too numerous to list. Last names
you would certainly have found even funnier. It was a polyglot
factory town. Of course, there WAS a good bit of teasing about names.
Children do that sort of thing......well, not only children. Some of
it was cruel.....children do that sort of things. For the most part
though, it was pretty good-natured and just about everyone gave as
good as he or she got. I don't recall that I was ever singled out as
getting any more than my fair share of it. As a matter of fact,
throughout my life I've had more people tell me that my name is kind
of cool than that it is funny. Frankly, I have never thought there
was anything particularly cool about it myself.....but it HAS been
something of a mixed blessing. People very rarely forget my first
name, but they often DO my last......and they typically mangle the
latter rather badly. More often than not, they misspell it even when
I recite the letters very slowly and carefully for them.

Since today is Memorial Day I thought I'd offer you the essay below.

Always thinking of me, eh? You are too kind.

I found it on a Veteran's newsgroup so I assume you missed it;

Well, I did miss it but I impute that more to the fact that I wasn't
looking for any such thing than to it's location. So, your assumption
is sort of half right. Not bad.

I've
read some of your opinions of Veterans on this newsgroup.

If you mean veterans (not gnerally capitalized in English) as a class,
then no, you haven't. To put it in terms even you might find simple
enough to comprehend, I don't have many opinions about veterans as a
class. The only one that comes readily to mind is that they are
entitled to no more or less than they.....as individuals or
collectively.....contracted for. Respect, I happen to know, is not on
the list. Neither is contempt, for that matter. If, on the other
hand, you mean individual veterans, then no, you haven't, or at least
not opinions that hinge on their status as military veterans. There
cerainly ARE some contemptible individuals here on ROFF (as well as in
the world at large) who are veterans, but their revolting and
insatiable appetite for ever more mangled corpses is shared by
millions who have never worn a uniform, and never will. Looks like
about a horse apiece, to me.

Meanwhile, I've spent time in the company of a number of the military
veterans on this news group. For the most part I have found them to
be excellent company.......um......well, Frank has a distressing
propensity to be behind one when a hungry carnivore is before
one......but, hell, he was Air Force......what can one expect?

It details the journey of two honorable men and the kind, decent
people they meet along the way.

Ah! I was tempted to read the story till I saw this. I see honorable
men and women every day. The vast majority of them don't wear any
sort of uniform. Some of them, of course, do, despite the fact that
they are mostly civilians. Like their military counterparts, most of
them don't do anything extraordinarily dangerous.....but some of them
do. Like their military counterparts, the vast majority of them don't
die or sustain serious injuries as a result of doing anything
particularly honorable......but some of them do. Most of their
stories will never be told to a wide audience. I will dare to guess
that most of them don't feel cheated by fate or dishonored by the lack
of a national holiday in their honor.

While, I'm sure you can never achieve
such honor

I've got a sneaking suspicion that you are sure of a lot of things
that ain't so. Nevertheless, I believe you've made a lucky guess in
this instance.

maybe you can at least approach kindness and decency.

I get close enough to see it every day. And I don't have to search
the internet for it.

Enjoy...

More than you can guess.

Wolfgang