These repeated losses of content are killing me and my desire to contribute anything of value
Take heart, prodigal. Return to the fold. What happened to positive thinking and PMA?
That the old times and places have passed on is secondary. Your tristesse, Larry, I would guess, as mine, is about the loss of that body of interaction that represents our fellowship as an anchor to that state and a place to which the prodigal could always return.
I would wager that your recent years of silence were motivated by changed priorities rather than a decline and demise of that generous fellowship and enthusiasm for cohesive communication that was so frequently expressed in your posts. But the loss of TSNS brings very much to the front of mind that a website is not The Grand Canyon, The Parthenon or The Pyramids - a physical structure present for an eternity. A mere delayed subscription renewal, a bigoted hosting company or a minor loss of data ...and pouffe!...TSNS is gone! Yet on all occasions, we have kept the flame of our interaction burning and recovered it eventually. Call it what you like - SN, FRN, TSNS or whatever, the loss of our previous vessel shows that what is important is not the thing itself. What has proved to be its life-force is the fellowship it contains and that is as virtual as the data that contained it.
So I have moved on. The priority is that the conversation continues, the conversation evolves and changes and therefore progresses and that there are like minded people to carry our nomadic little SN fire pot across time, no matter who they be or who their companions happen to be at the time.
Would there have been the Parable of the prodigal son if the family had moved house whilst he was away? If we are anything to go by, the answer would be yes. The family would have found a way to redirect him and so with us. Wherever we hang our cloak and camel goad and pitch our behouin camp is home for that sojourn*. I would rather be in a ramshackle shed with my good friends than standing alone in the empty Great Pyramid of Cheops with only the historical, hieroglyphic reminders that there were once people and society there.
*Correction of metaphor to be consistent with previous:
'Whatever barque we sail in and whatever ports we water at is our home haven until we set sail again'
So nice to hear from you Larry.
John
