Posted by Frank M. on November 09, 1998 at 20:51:56:
Throughout this website, numerous messages have come and gone that have sparked a good deal of controversy, to say the least. Much of it has been driven by our inherent ability to react at levels that are a few notches above that which caused the initial outburst itself. But, I also believe that a lot of it is caused by our ignorance. Now; before you start typing follow-up messages sending me to hell for calling you "stupid", consider this: An ignorant person is someone who has not had the opportunity to learn something new. A stupid person is one who is exposed to new things, yet chooses not to partake of the knowledge they offer. There's no doubt that there are plenty of ignorant people out there - I proudly count myself among them. You see; the beauty of life is to learn everything there is about it without pride, remorse, opinions or jealousy. When you exchange ignorance for enlightenment at every possible moment, you help to increase the value of life. More importantly, you help to strengthen it within the framework of family.
Personally, I don’t know of a better (or easier) way to do this than by sharing our thoughts, ideals, dreams and realities. Many of these stories will make us laugh; some will make us cry; others will thoroughly disgust and offend. In the end, I believe that many of you will be amazed at what you’ll learn. Even more surprisingly, many of you will be amazed at how much you have to teach. Since we do have so many "senior" family members making themselves known, why don't we take this opportunity to tap into their knowledge base? After all, they are our greatest source of historical and anecdotal information.
In view of all this, I'd like to start something called the "Did You Know..?" link. Each of us may contribute as many snippets of little-known history as they wish. Try not to be judgmental; state the facts as you know them to be. If someone else knows something to the contrary, please post it! The aim here is not to find fault - it's to explore; it's to document; it's to learn. Likewise, if you have information to add to a particular fact, post it! What a wonderful tapestry we'll be able to weave. What a wonderful legacy we'll leave for our children. What a mark of honor, love and gratitude we shall lay down for each of our dearly departed relatives, by showing them that we’ve learned to grow beyond the boundaries of our mistakes...
Please take a moment to check out the initial DYKs (Did You Know’s) I’ve place out there. A couple are based on information that has already been posted on the web. The list is small, so please help me make it grow!