Everybody wants to save the world

But no one wants to help Mom do the dishes.

Chances are, none of us will ever have the opportunity to run into a burning building to save an infant or discover the cure for cancer.
But the smallest of gestures- a warm smile, holding the door for someone, shoveling a neighbor's driveway- make our world better, because we are all connected.

This is my hope for you this Christmas: that by your smallest acts of kindness, you will save another's world.
Being good isn't enough; we must do good.

I have indeed run into a burning building (once, when I was younger) to see if someone needed help, if anyone had passed out from smoke. Everyone had evacuated, so I didn't actually save anyone. Other people were standing around but I was the only person who went into the building.

Later in life, I pulled a young woman out of a car that had gone off the road and overturned. I saw it go off the road and stopped my car to help.

I did make major contributions to a radiologic seed technique for treating prostate cancer. A small thing, relatively, in the battle to cure cancer

I have loved and been a caregiver for a wife with a very serious illness (for many years now) and I have done the hard work of raising two wonderful children. I give into the lives of my 5 beautiful grandchildren at every reasonable opportunity.

And I was raised to be a gentleman and I do instinctively hold doors for people and help my neighbors.

Here on WOV Forum, after Mission defaulted on paying the winner of the NFL Picks contest, I reached into my pocket and gave $400 to the contest winner. A tiny thing, but enormous when compared with how you have spent your time on this forum.

I have done other things that I am proud of in my life, but I'll stop here.

I know other members here who have also led lives that abound with good works.

I think your horizons for doing good, as displayed in your post, are very limited I certainly don't appreciate sanctimonius advice on leading a good life from a child-less, loveless man sitting alone in his extra-wide chair in the Arizona sun as he posts on a forum in which he has persistently insulted a large number of its members over the years. And who has never apologized to anyone - not even once - for any of his nasty insults. Not once. Not once. If you want to do good, why don't you start with an apology to the members of this forum.

Posting BS about doing good is not enough, you must actually do good.

I do wish you a Merry Christmas, billryan. I hope your heart grows two sizes this year.

Save the world? oh no Mr. Ryan I believe you misunderstand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCdLKXNF3w

Gordon you have insulted Billy, I believe you will take the appropriate action.

Quote: gordonm888

I have indeed run into a burning building (once, when I was younger) to see if someone needed help, if anyone had passed out from smoke. Everyone had evacuated, so I didn't actually save anyone. Other people were standing around but I was the only person who went into the building.

Later in life, I pulled a young woman out of a car that had gone off the road and overturned. I saw it go off the road and stopped my car to help.

I did make major contributions to a radiologic seed technique for treating prostate cancer. A small thing, relatively, in the battle to cure cancer

I have loved and been a caregiver for a wife with a very serious illness (for many years now) and I have done the hard work of raising two wonderful children. I give into the lives of my 5 beautiful grandchildren at every reasonable opportunity.

And I was raised to be a gentleman and I do instinctively hold doors for people and help my neighbors.

Here on WOV Forum, after Mission defaulted on paying the winner of the NFL Picks contest, I reached into my pocket and gave $400 to the contest winner. A tiny thing, but enormous when compared with how you have spent your time on this forum.

I have done other things that I am proud of in my life, but I'll stop here.

I know other members here who have also led lives that abound with good works.

I think your horizons for doing good, as displayed in your post, are very limited I certainly don't appreciate sanctimonius advice on leading a good life from a child-less, loveless man sitting alone in his extra-wide chair in the Arizona sun as he posts on a forum in which he has persistently insulted a large number of its members over the years. And who has never apologized to anyone - not even once - for any of his nasty insults. Not once. Not once. If you want to do good, why don't you start with an apology to the members of this forum.

Posting BS about doing good is not enough, you must actually do good.

I do wish you a Merry Christmas, billryan. I hope your heart grows two sizes this year.
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This is a complex post. Billy certainly has insulted forum members too numerous times to count. I doubt he would disagree. But he has also, at least in his mind, done lots of good with his helping of the homeless. At certainly great personal financial expense.
The childless, loveless man comment is nothing but cruel. You don’t know if he didn’t try for years to have kids but couldn’t, made a conscious decision that his make up wasn’t suited for kids, or is a gay man that never felt it was right to have kids.
I can list literally hundreds of times I’ve helped save a life, but it also literally was my job, so I don’t think I deserve the credit a ‘regular’ Good Samaritan gets. But I ALWAYS try to bring a smile to all those I interact with!

Anyway, Gordon, I do agree that your post was suspension worthy.

And am definitely interested in your prostate cancer story! If you can tell us about it either before or after you suspend yourself that would be appreciated.

My good deed this season is helping wifey host daughter, daughter’s GF, other daughter, and one of their friends here in Florida for Xmas. It’s not as easy as it sounds!

I thought of you specifically, Soopoo, and various other members when I mentioned that other members have led good lives.

I will take a self-imposed suspension of at least one week for making personal comments about a member, although I reserve the right to submit my NFL Picks to the contest via PM.

But I also, again, encourage billryan to apologize to members for the times that he has insulted them or compared them to monkeys or bad people or unintelligent people. And to look to see the goodness in the people in the forum, even if they have different viewpoints than him.

Is anyone else here an adherent of omertà? That's described as a Mafia code of silence in literature, but that is only one part of it. In general: it is a code of self-sufficiency, of avenging one's own grievances only.

So if someone insults me, and I think it's worth it, I'm going to track him down and I might just kill him. Or beat him, or cut up his face with a knife, or break some bones, or...

"What are you, crazy? It's never worth it to kill anyone or any of that other stuff over an insult! You sound like a nut!"

Well how about that, I think that's crazy too. It's not worth killing or doing extreme violence over an insult. So what is worth doing in retaliation? If you work your way down the list, from killing, to injuring, to traveling someplace to square off with him, to insulting in response... or to even dedicating one second to thinking about it... the answer always seems to come back- "No, not worth it." Or I could report it to an admin or some other authority- but if it's not worth me responding to it, how is it worth anyone else responding to it? That authority is not my servant or subordinate and his time and effort are worth no less than mine.

Thus, my brutal underworld code of honor which hypothetically allows me to murder for vengeance also compels me to disregard all insults, affronts, or other intangibles. Who would have guessed it, this code adhered to by some of the world's most dangerous men, this omertà, is also a code of Christlike forgiveness, if applied rationally and honestly.

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Is anyone else here an adherent of omertà? That's described as a Mafia code of silence in literature, but that is only one part of it. In general: it is a code of self-sufficiency, of avenging one's own grievances only.

So if someone insults me, and I think it's worth it, I'm going to track him down and I might just kill him. Or beat him, or cut up his face with a knife, or break some bones, or...

"What are you, crazy? It's never worth it to kill anyone or any of that other stuff over an insult! You sound like a nut!"

Well how about that, I think that's crazy too. It's not worth killing or doing extreme violence over an insult. So what is worth doing in retaliation? If you work your way down the list, from killing, to injuring, to traveling someplace to square off with him, to insulting in response... or to even dedicating one second to thinking about it... the answer always seems to come back- "No, not worth it." Or I could report it to an admin or some other authority- but if it's not worth me responding to it, how is it worth anyone else responding to it? That authority is not my servant or subordinate and his time and effort are worth no less than mine.

Thus, my brutal underworld code of honor which hypothetically allows me to murder for vengeance also compels me to disregard all insults, affronts, or other intangibles. Who would have guessed it, this code adhered to by some of the world's most dangerous men, this omertà, is also a code of Christlike forgiveness, if applied rationally and honestly.
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Following that code to its hypothetical ending gets you a one way ticket to jail for a long time. Hope you're up to date with your Apretude injections.

Quote: gordonm888

I thought of you specifically, Soopoo, and various other members when I mentioned that other members have led good lives.

I will take a self-imposed suspension of at least one week for making personal comments about a member, although I reserve the right to submit my NFL Picks to the contest via PM.

But I also, again, encourage billryan to apologize to members for the times that he has insulted them or compared them to monkeys or bad people or unintelligent people. And to look to see the goodness in the people in the forum, even if they have different viewpoints than him.
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Suspension well earned, and a moderate should know better.

I also would like to hear of your contribution to prostate cancer killer seeds. Dispensed lots of the them over the years.

This Christmastide, May those who love us, love us.
And those that don't love us, may God turn their hearts.
And if He can't turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles
so we can tell them by their limp.

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Is anyone else here an adherent of omertà? That's described as a Mafia code of silence in literature, but that is only one part of it. In general: it is a code of self-sufficiency, of avenging one's own grievances only.

So if someone insults me, and I think it's worth it, I'm going to track him down and I might just kill him. Or beat him, or cut up his face with a knife, or break some bones, or...

"What are you, crazy? It's never worth it to kill anyone or any of that other stuff over an insult! You sound like a nut!"

Well how about that, I think that's crazy too. It's not worth killing or doing extreme violence over an insult. So what is worth doing in retaliation? If you work your way down the list, from killing, to injuring, to traveling someplace to square off with him, to insulting in response... or to even dedicating one second to thinking about it... the answer always seems to come back- "No, not worth it." Or I could report it to an admin or some other authority- but if it's not worth me responding to it, how is it worth anyone else responding to it? That authority is not my servant or subordinate and his time and effort are worth no less than mine.

Thus, my brutal underworld code of honor which hypothetically allows me to murder for vengeance also compels me to disregard all insults, affronts, or other intangibles. Who would have guessed it, this code adhered to by some of the world's most dangerous men, this omertà, is also a code of Christlike forgiveness, if applied rationally and honestly.
link to original post

Following that code to its hypothetical ending gets you a one way ticket to jail for a long time. Hope you're up to date with your Apretude injections.
link to original post

Perhaps I was too subtle. Let me rephrase.

Yes, I am perfectly willing to kill to avenge myself... if it is worth it. Now describe to me something that would be worth it.

And if it's not worth it for me to do terrible things in response, how terrible was the slight, and why is it worth it for me to do anything at all?

And if it's not worth it for me to do anything at all when I was the recipient of the slight, then why is it worth it for some authority who was not the recipient of the slight to do anything in response? And if it's not worth it for the authority to do anything, why should I report a wrongdoer to the authorities? That's what omertà really is.