My sincere condolences to all who've lost their babies, my thoughts and
prayers to those who nurse the ill ones, care for the shelter babies,
and joy to the healthy ones.  For Fang and his mommy and daddy, special
thoughts to you.  It's Christmas eve, and I don't know, a certain song
at this time of year always makes me stop to ponder, shed a tear; so bear
with some thoughts here.
 
AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS, AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, ANOTHER YEAR OVER, A NEW
ONE JUST BEGUN.
 
Yes, it's Christmas.  And thinking back on this year of FML what have we
done: we've laughed, we've cried, we've tried to help each other.  Dr.
Bruce Williams joined, and his knowledge and giving of his time is
inestimable.  Some of us were lucky enough to attend the Ferrets 2000
Symposium in Toronto (Bless you Judy Cooke for helping me get there).  I
met people I never thought I'd get to meet-Bill Gruber, Bob Church, Randy
Belair, Randy's mom, Paige Townsend, Troy Lynn, Gary Holowicki, so many
more.  Met people near and dear to my heart-Harvey & Helga Clarke, people I
talk to and finally can put faces to.  I saw this list go into such a fight
I was afraid it was going to blow apart.  People who had been on this list,
whose knowledge and giving was wonderful, run off it by others.  Fighting
that just blew me away.  I've read about people who've gone to fight for
the ferrets and are now being threatened because they tried to help.
Special kudos to Bill Gruber for what he does here.  And Merry Christmas
to Bob Church, whom I hope might read this today.
 
AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS, FOR WEAK AND FOR STRONG, FOR RICH AND THE POOR
ONES, THE WORLD IS SO WRONG; AND SO HAPPY CHRISTMAS, FOR BLACK AND FOR
WHITE, FOR YELLOW AND RED ONES, LET'S STOP ALL THE FIGHTS.
 
It's Christmas, it's whatever holiday you are observing, and it's all for
everyone.  Yes, the world is wrong-there's fighting all over, there's
mistreatment of ferrets, of people, of everything, by everyone.  So
we, as a large group, we have the option for the upcoming year of not
bickering/fighting like we've seen this year, to try and be a little more
'bendable'.  Yes, there are issues raised that can raise the hackles
right off your head, and it happened to me, too.  But when it comes down
to continually fighting till it drives people away, or stating your view
and then sitting back, let's try to sit back a bit this year.  Don't
continually harp, hound, and drive at a point ad nauseum.  Try not to come
close to slander, defamation of character.  We can't all have the same
view, there's no rose colored glasses on me, but let's try, for pity sakes,
to not be as belligerent as we've seen happen in this past year-let's try
to be a bit more compassionate.  I know issues will be raised that this
thought won't even come close to meeting, but for other issues, it can
happen.
 
AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS, AND I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN, THE NEAR AND THE DEAR
ONES, THE OLD AND THE YOUNG.
 
Peace and joy to all of you from all of the Crew of Merry Mayhem, and the
humans they own.
 
Rebecca & the Crew of Merry Mayhem
 
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and taste
 good with ketchup"
[Posted in FML issue 3277]