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     ________________________________________ 04 Oct, 2001 ___

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     Table of Contents
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          1. Editorial by Dizzy 

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     1. Editorial By Dizzy
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First things first, sorry I haven't written in so long. 

When I began mudding, lo, these many years ago; I was a civil servant
engaged in the peacetime pursuits of our nation's Naval forces.  Aside 
from the occasional group chorus of, "Yo-ho, yo-ho, it's a pirate's 
life for me, YO-HO"; I was relatively over appreciated and less than 
optimally occupied.  Lets face it, I had time on my hands, the Internet 
was young, and I disguised my exploring with "connectivity testing" 
(mudding).  In the dim past of those ancient days it wasn't uncommon for
transatlantic lag to give one the impression that you could make a 
sammitch and eat it between the time you typed a command, and it was
executed by the mud.  Many times I'd been slain and devoured before I 
could get my first Magic Missile off..... so much has changed.

I've always had an insatiable desire to be The Boss.  The drive to 
achieve is an admirable thing when manifest appropriately, but don't 
harbor any illusions about my own need to run the show... selfishness 
(another way to define "immaturity"), ruthlessness (another way to 
define "mean spirited", and haughtiness (delusions of superiority and 
grandeur) have been my faithful companions and in a large measure 
defined who I was.... But I'm getting better as I grow older.  Or, at 
least, I find myself being more gracious and less demanding. And finally,
I'm finding that its easier to sit back, take a few breaths, and let 
reflect a bit before I open my mouth.  The best advice my dad ever gave 
me (and he gave me plenty of good advice that I didn't appreciate at the 
time), was to never pass up an opportunity to keep my mouth shut.

Twenty three days ago, as of this writing, a number of acts of terrorism 
were executed against targets in the United States of America.  Depending
on your country of origin and cultural background, you may not have 
experienced the degree of shock that I did.  Intellectually I've known for 
years that we were overdue for precisely this type of political and 
ideological hammering, but the reality of it... wow... the reality of it...  
In an earlier time, my first knee-jerk reaction would have been to drown 
friends and acquaintances with my wisdom.  "If I were in charge, I'd grief
and anger filled this spot with a lot of invective and bluster".  Instead, 
I quietly absorbed the news, thought deeply about the meaning of the
terrorism, and formulated some opinions that I want to share with you.

Avatar is a microcosm of the real world that we all live in.  We work, 
play, love, converse, and live in the fantasy world of Avatar.  To many 
of us the imagination paints pictures of our Avatar friends, and Avatar 
locations that are vividly real to us.  I confess that when Lord Storr 
leads Mefisto in a group that numbers over 40 members, my respiration 
comes a bit faster then when I'm watching Survivor on TV.  So, allow me 
to pass on a logical progression that helps me when thinking about getting 
along with my fellow man (virtual and RL).

1. Its all about Attitude
2. Attitudes are derived from Perspective
3. Perspective is the direct result of what you dwell on... your Focus.
4. Dizzy's postulate:  Everyone chooses how happy they are by what they 
   choose to think about (Focus on).

I'll close by sharing some words to live by from an unknown author:

"Attitude is the way you think.  Your attitude is something other people 
can actually see.  They can hear it in your voice, see it in the way you 
move, feel it when they are with you.  You attitude expresses itself in
everything you do, all the time, wherever you are.

Positive attitudes always invite positive results.  Negative attitudes 
always invite negative results.

Attitude makes a difference every hour, every day, in everything that you 
do for your entire life.  What you get out of each thing you do will equal 
the attitude you have when you do it.

Anything that you do with a positive attitude will work for you.  Anything 
that you do with a negative attitude will work against you.

If you have a positive attitude, you are looking for ways to solve the 
problems that you can solve, and you are letting go of things over which 
you have no control.

I am convinced that live is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to
it.  And so it is with us......We are in charge of our attitudes."

--Diz