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Bananafish308
Location: East Meadow
Gender: Male
Born: March 8, 1962
Interests: Reading, Sports, Movies and Music
Member: Premier Author
Joined: July 2006
INFORMATION
Bananafish308 is the proud father of three children, an accountant by trade, who has been inspired by his wife and children to break free of these shackles and pursue his life-long desire to write. His passion for writing is equaled by his passion for reading, sports and music. He considers himself a true pragmatist, which comes into constant conflict with his romantic impulses buried deep within his heart.


FAVORITE QUOTE
The heart is only half a prophet.
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Bananafish308: "Fear of ideological defeat is no match for the fear of imminent death."

-Charles M. Blow
August 9, 2021 at 9:31AM
Bananafish308: "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."

-Søren Kierkegaard
February 5, 2021 at 11:51PM
Bananafish308: "To see life through the prism of a White American male is the most infinitesimally narrow of viewpoints."

-Me (A White American male)
December 19, 2020 at 4:27AM
    Carlos' girl: so quit your job, move to the projects in rhe bronx or harlem, collect welfare or deal drugs for a living and feel enlightenwd lol
    December 20, 2020 at 8:17PM
    CD Richards: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove any doubt.

    -unknown

    Merry Christmas, Bill.
    December 20, 2020 at 10:14PM
    Bananafish308: Merry Christmas to you, too, Craig.

    Your response says it all, my friend. While I know I shouldn't waste another moment on such a ridiculous comment, I will take it as an opportunity to thank this person for giving me this chance to reiterate a point I have made repeatedly in the past.

    The current divide in this country is not about politics. It is about something much more profound and disturbing, as demonstrated by this comment.

    So, to reluctantly address the comment, it is not necessary for anyone with reasonable intelligence and a shred of humanity to understand the plight of another without actually having the same experiences.

    It is called having BASIC HUMAN DECENCY - something totally alien to a significant segment of the population. This comment was a stark reminder of how this particular segment castigates those who advocate for compassion and tolerance and therein lies the TRUE divide.
    December 22, 2020 at 11:47AM
Bananafish308: "Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong."

-Leo Buscaglia
November 18, 2020 at 2:37AM
    mrsmajor: The strong are real, they are comfortable with themselves, and most often don't feel the need to fear others, gentleness is an inevitable trait...Victoria
    The weak are filled with fear, the ideal of sharing isn't acceptable, and from that fear often comes cruelty and violence...Victoria
    November 18, 2020 at 8:31AM
    mrsmajor: Bill,
    I not only believe, I do know, for sure, You are one of the Strong, and so am I...I know who and what I am, and though it's difficult at times to accept those that show their weakness, through criticism, and resentment of those around them, Actually we should feel sorry for people that cannot see pass their own frailties...Though perfect I will never be, often I can see just through their own words, those that are weak, and fearful...(Does that make sense to you)..
    November 18, 2020 at 10:55AM
    Colin John: It is so true.......
    November 18, 2020 at 2:11PM
Bananafish308: The Teacher

The man was small in stature, but his words thunderous in their implications. He spoke with a calm, quite dignity. He taught me about the symbiotic and paradoxical relationship between teacher-pupil, pupil-teacher. He taught me about the duality of a true learning experience, in which one is both pupil and teacher simultaneously - teaching oneself and another. As I listened and learned from him, I also listened to the lessons I was teaching myself. In turn, the teacher learned from me. I explained to him the invaluable lessons he taught me and he gazed upon me with a gentle smile.

The man was not real in a physical sense, but he was more real than any mortal person. I dreamed about him. He is the Teacher. I remember little of what he actually said in the dream, just the essence. I remember the inspiring feelings he stirred within me. The unique, indescribable feeling one gets when they feel they have been privy to profound insights. Above all, though, the teacher gave me hope. Hope in one's ability to transcend the primal human impulse to resist learning and seek refuge in the comfort of one's own predigested worldview.

In reality, we are our own teacher. We create the lesson plans. We decide what is true and what is fact; what is important and what is irrelevant. We choose whether or not to listen - to others and to ourselves. The ability to listen is the true lesson in life, to really listen. The ability to listen to ourselves while listening to another, but to ourselves, first and foremost. If we listen close enough to ourselves, we will learn all there is to learn. We can listen to the greatest thinkers the world has known, but the words will be empty if we do not give them relevance. Each one of us is the Teacher.
October 21, 2020 at 7:55AM
    jlsavell: Bill, you should promote this exceptional essay with such a depth of meaning.

    There is an art and a discipline to truly listening. If we fail to master this art, our growth is stifled , therefore, how we listen proceeds how we relate to others. To be so absorbed in ones own world as if it?s the only one that matters creates a superficiality which distances others.

    Beautiful essay.
    October 24, 2020 at 9:47AM
    Bananafish308: Thanks Jimi! Couldn't agree more with what you said.

    I actually ended up promoting it yesterday.

    Take care!
    October 24, 2020 at 10:30AM
Bananafish308: "He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form."

-John Stuart Mill
October 18, 2020 at 10:56AM
    Gloria ....: Excellent point, Jimi. So true, that if you don't know about any other POV but your own, then you really haven't taken a side, you have merely pulled up a seat in the great auditorium of an ocean of oneness. I always enjoy your philosophical comments.
    October 22, 2020 at 2:16AM
    jlsavell: Ahhh! Gloria, you must be thinking about me.

    I think Bill, you, and I are quite philosophical in nature.

    Love this post, Bill

    Jimi
    October 22, 2020 at 9:44PM
Bananafish308:
October 4, 2020 at 12:47AM
    tfawcus: Great speech.
    October 4, 2020 at 6:04AM
    jlsavell: Bill, thank you for sharing. This young man is brilliant.
    October 4, 2020 at 7:35PM
    Bananafish308: He sure is, Jimi. The encouraging thing is that this is the kind of wonderful stuff that SOME educational institutions are showing their students. My son is in high school and he is taking a college level psychology class. His teacher had the class watch this speech the first week of class.

    My mother-in-law is a college English professor. She also shows this speech to her English 101 and 102 classes.

    There IS hope for this country, yet, if we continue to produce such wonderful educators! It is beyond shameful that we can't rely on those currently in positions of power and influence to provide this type of positive inspiration!!
    October 4, 2020 at 8:59PM
    mrsmajor: Thanks for sharing this with us Bill, it was a well worth taking the time to listen to the entire talk. The teaching of what to think about, and how to begin to really learn about life, not only how to count, spell, or read, should start early. Life is more than what one learns in their home, or classroom. There is a real world outside of one's self, and life is a never ending lesson.
    We can learn something of value, as long as our minds are open, and receptive...Yes, I would have had my students read, and discuss this post without question.
    Victoria
    October 4, 2020 at 10:19PM
    jlsavell: I didn?t know if anyone was aware that this young man died at 46. David Foster Wallace
    October 9, 2020 at 8:59AM
Bananafish308: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.
August 28, 2020 at 11:36AM
    mrsmajor: Sadly, Bill, ignorance is still truth to some.
    August 28, 2020 at 1:36PM
    Bananafish308: So true, Victoria. Hope all is well with you.
    August 28, 2020 at 2:58PM
    Colin John: I wrote a poem on the great man, going to heaven as a black angel, and living happily with all the white angels. That's only right as he was a deeply religious man. Good quote.
    August 28, 2020 at 4:33PM
    mrsmajor: Thanks Bill. I'm doing pretty good, (for an old lady) lol...
    Stay safe my friend, and all the best for your wife, and children...Hugs
    August 28, 2020 at 8:12PM
Bananafish308: "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

-Isaac Asimov
August 16, 2020 at 9:02PM
    CD Richards: Not exclusively in the US, Bill; although it does seem to do it better than most.
    August 16, 2020 at 9:46PM
    Colin John: "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."
    August 17, 2020 at 10:49AM
    CD Richards: Thanks for your opinion.
    August 17, 2020 at 6:53PM
Bananafish308: When did Tom institute a ban on political comments on the profile thoughts page??? I never saw it.
August 16, 2020 at 3:26PM
    nor84: It's recent, maybe in the last six weeks or so. Apparently, things were getting ugly in those forums. I never participated in either.

    I believe Dale Carnegie, who wrote in his book something to the effect of: Never discuss your politics or religion with others. Their position is set, and you aren't going to change it.
    August 16, 2020 at 7:38PM
    nor84: This is what is supposed to be on Profile Thoughts forum: "Displaying recent comments written in profiles."

    However, if this becomes another 'political forum' I think we can expect Tom to do something about it. The Political Forum and the Religious Forum no longer exit.
    August 17, 2020 at 2:45PM
    Sarkems: I thought the other forums were created in the first place to stop political stuff appearing on these pages. I'm fairly sure the 'Religion' forum was started after people kept witnessing on profile thoughts. So I'm guessing it's spilled on to here again and Tom's put a stop to it.
    August 18, 2020 at 2:36AM
    CD Richards: I don't recall seeing such a ban, either. Sure we aren't just imagining it? I wouldn't be sad to see such a decree, the problem is, it's just never going to hold up, because some people can't resist. It doesn't occur to them their opinions are political, they are just "truth".
    August 18, 2020 at 3:11AM
    nor84: The Political forum existed when I came here in 2006. The Religious forum was, as Sarkems said, set up to keep the other forums free from religious rants. Now neither of those forums exist. This forum, as I said earlier was supposed to be what people put in their 'Profile Thoughts' and now I suppose we're going to get both politics and religion here and in the other forums. If people acted so badly to one another in the religious and political forums that Tom had to do away with those forums, we can look for bad behavior to occur in all the other forums, I suppose.
    August 20, 2020 at 4:23PM
Bananafish308: "The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it."

-George Orwell

August 14, 2020 at 1:32PM
    webfoot: yes!
    August 16, 2020 at 11:41AM
Bananafish308: Saw this on Facebook. So perfectly said:

"'Agree to disagree' is reserved for things like 'I don't like coffee.' Not racism, homophobia, and sexism. Not human rights. Not basic common decency. If I unfriend you during this, it IS personal. We do not have a difference of opinion. We have a difference in morality."

-corina@cdvaughn16
June 27, 2020 at 4:48PM
    jlsavell: Exceptional comment. It should be a banner across the world.
    June 27, 2020 at 10:53PM
    emmaysavage: Idon't think "let go of self" is the way to grow.
    June 28, 2020 at 12:08PM
    Bananafish308: I think taking a stand against racism, homophobia, and sexism, and speaking up for human rights and basic common decency is EXACTLY the way to grow.
    June 28, 2020 at 2:09PM
Bananafish308: Reprise:

"A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."

-Proverbs 18:2
June 22, 2020 at 10:04AM
Bananafish308: "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."

-Proverbs 18:2
June 15, 2020 at 9:32AM
    jlsavell: Great quote!
    June 15, 2020 at 12:33PM
Bananafish308: Jon Cooper:

"I just asked my neighbor why he removed the Trump sign from his lawn, where it had been since 2016. He replied, "I couldn't ignore his racism any longer. My son [10 years old] asked why I still support him, and I had no answer. If you lose your kid's respect, you've got nothing."
June 13, 2020 at 11:14PM
    jlsavell: I?m impressed
    June 14, 2020 at 11:54AM
    jlsavell: I?m impressed
    June 14, 2020 at 11:54AM
    mrsmajor: That man loves his son!
    June 14, 2020 at 1:52PM
 
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Illicit Lure reached "Recognized" status.
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