2. Uses logic to support his or her beliefs, rather than as a means to seek the truth. Lacks Heart centered truth.

3. Ignores the facts that don’t support his or her beliefs.

4. Dismisses opposing arguments by denigrating the person setting them forth.

5. Accuses others of the very wrongs he or she does.

6. Pretends to be an authority on a subject when he or she is not

This sentiment, to my knowledge, goes back to Socrates and even the Bible, where disrespectful children could be executed!!! I feel that it’s almost always a mistake when dealing with human beings to follow the natural tendency of the mind to reason from the particular to the general, i.e. I see a characteristic in a few people of a class or type or age or generation or nationality and I reason that “all” must share it. My own experience tells me that one swallow does not make a summer and one lazy, rude or inconsiderate person does not necessarily represent a generation. Or, for that matter that individual person all the time. So much goes on with people that we do not know or understand. Some times people act and react badly not to what we or they perceive but to circumstances buried more deeply. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s almost always a mistake to judge character by encounter.

No gratitude for the abundance I have brought into her life or respect that I am her friends mother. After she spoke she got up and said, ‘excuse me but I have to Pee’ , then went to another table and sat and talked with other guests.

Well, my cynical side always says, “if you want gratitude, buy a dog.” On the other hand perhaps the casual moving on is one of those situations demonstrating that familiarity, if not breeding contempt, at least can result in one’s being taken for granted as not needing or expecting the courtesy extended to a stranger. Not pretty behavior, perhaps, but not enough to assume that there’s no appreciation for the relationship

I have been thinking what the world is going to be like when this misguided 25 plus year old is in charge. Someone raised her and her generation with no loving attention.

Once again there’s no “someone” who raised her and her generation. There are lots of someones who raised lots of members of the generation. Twenty five is still young to develop genuine sense of proportion and, repeating myself again, it’s quite unfair to condemn a generation because one person who fits somewhere in it is rude. (My own situation is interesting, I’m a war baby. Both my children and my husband are technically classified as “baby boomers.” This makes my children belong to the same generation as my husband. And yet, I’d venture to say that our experiences are far more like each other’s than they are like my children’s.’

It turns out that the girl I am writing about is just like all her friends and they all have lost the spark of light that comes from listening with love in their heart, throat, mind, and mouth. There is one in the circle who is kind and soft and is being a good friend. But who knows if the smog of association will burn the grace to a cinder.

Not everyone is comfortable with the sweet words of love that are characteristic of your own way of communicating. This doesn’t mean that they do not have the capacity or that they have “lost” it. Perhaps they have and can’t or don’t communicate; perhaps it will come in time. Writing people off as lacking the spark seems to deny the existence of the divine spark that most religious traditions posit. I’m not prepared to do that and I think you are being to hasty when you do.

On to your e-mail. There is snobbishness and shallowness in Berkeley. On the surface we see the great university. Below we see only conformity to a local normal standard.

When we were 25 we knew everything. We did not respect life experience. We did not know the path another may have travelled. Think about the Cinderella movie with Drew Barrymore. Prince Charming rejected Drew because she was late. Merlin made him take her because of the route she travelled to be with him. From some the words do not mean a thing.

Learning who we are and being who we are, that is the achievement. Our efforts to be us is to confront the power of all of the interests against us. Instead of continuing, I end by stating that McLuhan is my light on this subject.