Sam Harris

I think this is a good idea but I feel the logistics would be difficult if not impossible. I also do not see how the administrator could neglect any of my post. They are all so insightful and intriguing that they must be read by every reader on this forum. I do not know how you would distinguish between this faq and a list of my posts. I just think it might cause some jealousy among the other posters at the forum. I mean take my 2001 reference in my last post. It is hard to believe that I write here free of charge.

Frankr, how DO you do it??

I suppose you’re right about Twain, Ingersoll and Mencken. (Haven’t read any Ingersoll. I’ll look into finding something.)

You can find some of Ingersoll’s writings at these free sites:
 
 
 
 

I take this excerpt from the last of those references. It is about Ingersoll rather than by Ingersoll.

The following masterpieces of elegiac eloquence are unsurpassed in the repertory of the English classics, for lofty and noble sentiment, exquisite pathos, vivid imagery, tenderness of feeling, glowing power of description, brilliant command of language, and that immortal and seldom attained faculty of painting in the soul of the listener or reader a realistic picture whose sublimity of conception impresses the understanding with awe and admiration, and impels the mind to rise involuntarily for the time to an elevation out of and above the inconsequent contemplation of the common and sordid things of life.

Ted, thinking of elegies now that there has been yet another death in the family

Ted
I am sorry for your loss. I have been to two funerals in tha past week myself, both very young. One a former student another a cousin of fourteen whose heart gave way. In my not so many years I have come to be a firm believer in showing up. There is little we can do or say but I have learnt (that’s Virginiaese) that Woody Allen was correct when he said 90% of life is showing up. I think it part of the human condition that we are strengthened by other’s presence after death the loved one. I do not know why. I cannot tell you how many times I have been thanked for showing up. It far exceeded any merit I deserved. I was also very thankful to the many who showed up for my father’s wake and funeral. I digress, I am sorry for your loss.

Thank you for the kind words, Frankr. Somehow, each death brings back the grief of all the earlier ones, not that I ever forget for long. I am sorry about your losses too. I agree that it helps to have other people around. It was terribly painful for me as the caregiver too not long ago, when all I could do was help extend a life, contrary to the wishes of a brave, generous, and resigned patient. I asked a hospice nurse once how she could stand to work around us weepy people. She said that what really hurt is people in the patients’ families who show no reaction. What admirable people those nurses are.