OK I am going to say it.

This message is for Bill & Nancy and Philip Mantle

My personality is such that I dislike it when people who are great friends argue and fight. I have had my fair share of them myself. Each of you have voiced your reasons why you are fighting and I think that is good that you have done that. Now that you have had time to reflect on this a little, I sense that maybe you are feeling the same things I did when I was in a similar position. After all the smoke clears, and you view all of the casualties, you begin to wonder if it was worth all of the hostilities and pain that was dealt out and received.

I learned that in counseling, that the person who has the problem, has the answer. It just takes someone else to show that person that they had the answer, but did not like it.

So for whatever it is worth, I would like to say that I like and respect all of you, and it hurts me to know that you are at odds with each other.

My hope is that by posting this that both sides can sit back and think about how this all happened and be able to communicate to each other and realize that you are all victims in this and see that misunderstandings are creating the problem. It hurts me to think that you will no longer be friends. I have had to swallow my pride and say I was sorry before, and I have always felt better afterwords. People just like you and I have emotions, and they are usually the first thing to surface in an argument. They take over logic and cause us to say things we regret later.

I am writing this as a concerned viewer and although I know nothing of your past together, I do know that there is not a single issue on this planet that can't be worked out when people remove the emotion that fuels their rage and talk about the problem.

I think a good rule of thumb is:
That the person who is making the complaint, come up with a solution. Then both parties can explain why or why not that solution will or will not work.

So please read what I have written above and find that way to communicate with each other and understand each other.

Just my thoughts on this as someone who cares.

The Flame

We were all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars. Molecules that do not understand politics, policies and differences. Over a billion years we foolish molecules have forgotton who we are and where we came from. Desperate acts of ego, we give ourselves names, fight over lines and maps, and pretend that our light is better than everyone elses. The flame reminds us of a piece of those stars that lives on, inside us. The spark that tells us - you should know better. The flame also reminds us that each life is precious, as each flame is unique. When it goes out, it is gone forever; and there will never be another quite like it. (Just Like Friendships).