Do *Not* Spank The Idiots

Okay, I got an email last night from one of the early CSE activists, who had been off "taking care of family business" for six weeks. and is incensed that we haven't Solved All The Problems in her absence. Her proposal: To stay the hell away from us until we succeed.

This is a community-based, grass-roots organization. If she stays away while the rest of us solve the problems, she is abdicating her role in the community. So I wrote her a very gentle letter back explaining this, which I have now shelved in my "Do Not Send" file, so I can write a *kind* letter back.

Gentle *doesn't* mean kind. HIV is so deadly *because* it is a gentle virus; it's so gentle it slides in right under a human immune system without being noticed at all. Then it kills you. My gentle, elegant one-page letter carried the meaning "Your staying away is an exemplar of the *cause* of our problems. Bad you!" Having reread it and treasured its elegance of expression, I now have to throw it away and instead write the letter that says "Good volunteer! You elegantly point out the problem we are in the middle of addressing! Will you now come join us in the joyous community endeavor of fixing it?"

I shall make every human effort not to barf on her shoes while so doing. Fortunately, I have a strong stomach.