Daniel Peterson wrote:harmony wrote:If you say so.
Produce your childhood tricycle.
I didn't have a tricycle. My first bike, however, is still in my mom's shop (very rusty).
Produce your grandparents.
They're all dead. I can, however, show you their gravestones and their birth certificates, thus verifying that they existed.
Produce your first Valentine.
Don't have it. I do, however, have my first love letter.
Produce the puppy you had when you were a little girl.
Can't. He's dead. However, he wasn't written on letterhead from the 1st Presidency. Had he been, no doubt I would have kept his ashes.
If something is gone, it's gone. And once you know it's gone, it's unreasonable to continue to demand that it be produced for your curiosity and to act as if somebody else is being obstinate or covering something up for failing to do so.
I don't demand anything. I asked. And I didn't ask to satisfy my curiosity. I asked so you could verify your claim. It was an opportunity
for you, not an attack
against you. That you took it as an attack on your honesty and your integrity is very strange. I don't know you, have never met you, have never conversed with you, yet you expect me to take your word for something that you alledge. Why should I? Because you're a BYU professor? That doesn't give you immunity from proving your claims. Because you're a bishop? Bishops, even stake presidents, have to show their cards when they're playing poker. This is the same thing. You claim the 2nd letter exists. I just asked you to produce it, so people would shut the heck up about it, so they'd quit bugging you about it. In return, you came at me like you'd been personally insulted and I'd insulted your friends, your family, and your employer. I didn't. I asked you to verify a claim you made. Turns out you can't. That's disappointing. Had you been able to, then all these people would shut up.