Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   JB>  I talk in fido how I like to talk to the neighbours   
   JB>  across our fence, and how I'd like to be talked to.   
   JB>  "Don't be offensive, OR easily offended..."   
      
   AH>  Do as you would be did by.  Makes sense to me....  :-)   
      
   JB>  Actually, a terrible example considering the neighbour   
   JB>  that has JUST listed his house for sale.    
      
      
              OTOH... it may be a better example than you think.  I figure we'll   
   always have a certain percentage of people in our lives with whom we'd rather   
   not associate at all, given the choice, but in most cases we can't choose our   
   neighbours.  When others treat us as we'd like to be treated and/or adhere to   
   similar behavioural standards it's usually not so difficult to mirror what we   
   see in them & feel good about ourselves at the same time.  The real challenge   
   comes when we feel we're dodging bullets, or when the nice lady from down the   
   road wants to share her life story & we're en route to a medical appointment.   
   As folks in recovery circles say, another d*mned learning experience....  ;-)   
      
      
              On the subject of "staircase wit", BTW... i.e. a term French people   
   use to describe situations in which the clever response we'd like to have made   
   at the soir‚e occurs to us when we're returning home to our third-floor walkup   
   or when some earnest attempt in FidoMail has already scanned out... I must say   
   the same thing happens to teachers & band conductors.  Imagine, if you will, a   
   community band rehearsal in which we have to pack a lot into a couple of hours   
   because we haven't met since June.  With a few minutes remaining the conductor   
   informs us he'd like to do a rubato... "and if you don't know what that means,   
   look it up!"  Or, as a returnee in the horn section responds, "Look Up."  :-))   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)