beastie wrote:
You can be a good and loyal friend, Ray, I know that personally. I think your friendship and loyalty is blinding you a bit in regards to Will. But all of us share in that type of blindness when it comes to our friends. I won't fault you for that, but nor will I retract anything I've said about Will. And I say these things about Will not because he hurt my feelings, because he didn't have the power to do that, nor out of some vendetta. To be brutally frank in a way that is not flattering to myself, part of me enjoyed it when Will went over the top because it put his character in black and white for all to see. Besides, the insults he threw at me were so off the mark that they were laughable all along. His spirit of discernment is not as great as he imagines. I say these things because Will - at least the character that he chooses to share online - really is problematic and troubling. I hope you're able to recognize that much, even if you don't agree with the negative attention he's receiving on this thread.
It's way past my bedtime, beastie, but I'll add a few thoughts before I depart for the land of sweet sleep.
Yes, I know what Will said about you, and I
don't approve of it. I don't exactly sanction what he said about me, either, but I've let it pass as water under the bridge.
Some friendships are more important to me than anything else, including yours, but, with some exceptions, I don't want to be in a position where I have to choose one over the other. There are special qualities I value in all of my friends, and for that reason I try to maintain those friendships, even when they personally are against one another.
I suppose it's a tightrope act, sometimes.
[Add Helen Steiner Rice poem here.]
I like Will, and I like him because there's a kind of "spiritual connection" there, and I believe he's a far better person than the "demon" he's portrayed as being here. It pains me to read of the vilification.
Good night.