Grandpa Spencer spins
I posted an apology the other day. There was a problem with the web site; I truly felt I was wrong for a hasty judgement, blaming a troll for a technical malfunction. There is precedent for such suspicion, but I wanted to be a nice guy.
My grandpa, Spencer Clay Bryant, was right. Don't equivocate. Don't apologize. I'm sure Mother Mamie played hell getting the old man into church. When his time came, this veteran of War I and the Spanish-American War was surounded by women; his last words were a request for a cup of coffee.
Those conversant with history may recognize the significance of Papa's name. Family genealogists reliably inform me that there is a more direct link to John Jay, the statesman who took issue with Abraham Lincoln.
Henry Clay and John Jay didn't apologize. Right or wrong, they spoke their minds.
Southern guilt is like Nazi guilt. The original generation is wrong on a specific count; thus all generations are gulity of oppression, vicious racism. No amount of retraction will make up for that momentary lapse of reason. My grandpa sensed this dichotomy; thus his admonition to never apologize.
I am raised in the Christian church; thus taught to apologize when I find myself wrong. So, I'm sitting in the Possum Den the other day, staring at the latest monitor read-outs, and muttering "dang...maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to cuss that boy!"
I made an apology. I equivocated. "I might've been wrong."
The reply was to the effect of "What took you so long...?", and enough obscenity that I had to delete the post to conform to my minimal PG-13 standards.
My grandpa was right. Is there a point to apology? Nothing short of death, and I ain't a murderer.
I will never apologize again. I don't suffer the arrogance of infallibilty, but I'll depend on my handful of faithful readers to pull me up short when I'm getting over the top.
My mind is mine. Right or wrong, this is my space, and I shall speak what pleases me.
Like Samuel Jackson at the end of "Pulp Fiction", I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd, and not the tyranny of evil men.
My grandpa, Spencer Clay Bryant, was right. Don't equivocate. Don't apologize. I'm sure Mother Mamie played hell getting the old man into church. When his time came, this veteran of War I and the Spanish-American War was surounded by women; his last words were a request for a cup of coffee.
Those conversant with history may recognize the significance of Papa's name. Family genealogists reliably inform me that there is a more direct link to John Jay, the statesman who took issue with Abraham Lincoln.
Henry Clay and John Jay didn't apologize. Right or wrong, they spoke their minds.
Southern guilt is like Nazi guilt. The original generation is wrong on a specific count; thus all generations are gulity of oppression, vicious racism. No amount of retraction will make up for that momentary lapse of reason. My grandpa sensed this dichotomy; thus his admonition to never apologize.
I am raised in the Christian church; thus taught to apologize when I find myself wrong. So, I'm sitting in the Possum Den the other day, staring at the latest monitor read-outs, and muttering "dang...maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to cuss that boy!"
I made an apology. I equivocated. "I might've been wrong."
The reply was to the effect of "What took you so long...?", and enough obscenity that I had to delete the post to conform to my minimal PG-13 standards.
My grandpa was right. Is there a point to apology? Nothing short of death, and I ain't a murderer.
I will never apologize again. I don't suffer the arrogance of infallibilty, but I'll depend on my handful of faithful readers to pull me up short when I'm getting over the top.
My mind is mine. Right or wrong, this is my space, and I shall speak what pleases me.
Like Samuel Jackson at the end of "Pulp Fiction", I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd, and not the tyranny of evil men.
posted by Robert at 6:24 PM
7 Comments:
Sorry to hear it.
NOT!!!
The troll you speak of NEVER deserves an apology. His past behavior eclipses anything you could ever do in incivility.
;o) in' atcha possum. Does that make me your eleventeenth reader?
I was replying to beerme a couple of hours ago, when the power suddenly went off on Scorpion Hill.
As is customary, I was putting the finishing touch on a tale of Terri Garr and Southern men. Power failures never occur when one is starting a post, only when the idea has coalesced into a rational thought.
The California-born Ms. Garr was making an appearance on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show", opposite Harry Crews, Roy Blount, and Burt Reynolds; fine sons of Dixie, all.
Ms. Garr gushed that she loves Southern men, except for our one annoying tic: we are all the time apologizing, even before we give offense.
On cue, and in perfect three-part harmony, Blount, Crews and Reynolds leaned forward and said "I'm sorry!"
It's got to be some genetic disposition. I must learn to use this power for good.
However, I also agree with the creed that it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Of course, this only applies when you're knowingly doing something which will later require said apology, and for which you know permission would never have been granted, so I'm not sure any of this applies to this situation.
Possum, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck...you just called it what it is.
I am muchly impressed with the graciousness of Mr. Whittington today.
Upon being released from the hospital, this gentleman, who was shot in the mug by vice-president Cheney, apologized for causing so much grief to his friend.
Frankly ,I get tired of the glib "Oh,I'm sorry" ,that we hear so often today.This seems to be the dims big thing now. Getting someone to "take the blame" and to "say they're sorry" Slick Willie and Janet Reno were always telling America how sorry they were and it didn't mean a thing. When Reno took 'responsibility' for Waco and Ruby Ridge ,what did she mean? Nothing,it was a couple of problems solved as far as she was concerned. So some kids were killed ,"Sorry".
If you had been in a situation like Cheney's ,Possum ,you would have done everything humanly possible for your friend,probably even saying ,I'm so sorry".
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