TheBanyanTree: Roll Call Reunion - Go Ask Alice

[PJMoney]

Thanks for re-posting "Go Ask Alice" Roger.  Whenever I think of Youngblood
that story is the one that comes to my mind.  She astonished me, that lovely
woman.  I'd never come across anyone like her before.  She was admirable.
Her honesty, wisdom and generosity - and especially the generosity she
showed when she was dying - struck me as remarkable and worth trying to
emulate.  I'm very grateful to have known her even if it was only at a
distance.

In fact I'm grateful to have been part of this community for the last
(nearly) ten years.  We all change as time moves on and we have to learn to
cope with whatever happens.  Contributors to Spoon and The Banyan Tree have
been a major positive element in my life.  You have broadened, widened and
deepened my knowledge of the world, how it works and the people who live in
it.  You have surprised me, delighted me, encouraged me and, occasionally,
irritated me.  

Even the last has been good for me and helped me in my journey to find peace
because the rule (tell a story) prohibits the "you" accusations that provoke
defensiveness and can lead to fights.  Believe as passionately as you like
in some philosophy with which I, perhaps just as passionately, disagree.  It
doesn't matter.  I can't deny your story and neither can you deny mine.  But
maybe your story has a bearing on what I believe, or vice versa.  Maybe your
story will influence my opinions, or maybe it won't.  That doesn't matter
either.  What matters is that we tell our stories.  I'm happy to leave the
rest to God.   

Janice