Hello --

How sad that you had to experience such a breach of trust. Don't worry
on my account -- all this debate is sort of character-building.

I have a strong tendency to quail when criticized, and to generalize
into thinking that all the world feels the same as the criticizer,
that they are right and I am bad, and so on and so FORTH!

These FML debates are showing me that it can be just the opposite,
really.

Also, I see that that not getting overwhelmed lets me absorb the
opinions behind the criticisms, which can be helpful towards clarifying
things.

It also lets me realize a little of the deep personal lives of some
of the writers and, since we all share a lot of psychology, it's been
enlightening. For example, I've been thinking about how important it
is to us to maintain our deepest conceptions of reality and convince
others of them.

Lastly (so far!), all of this has shaken up a deep inability to debate
and take action. If you are always feeling criticized, how can you
debate freely? How can you make decisions? How can you take action?
You can't get much done if you're cowering in a mental bomb shelter.

So I'm grateful for this whole experience -- it's lightened that load.

[Posted in FML 7755]