Wisdom comes with age

[Guest guest]

Dear Cheryl,

Thank you for your kind comments. I would hope that with age, wisdom will

follow, but there is still a lot of stupid in there, too. LOL

I learned a long time ago working in a law office and then for a judge, that you

have to mince your words to soften the blow. I used to write to prisoners who

wrote to the judge (they were all innocent) and I learned a lot about human

nature and what makes people tick. They respond much quicker to a positive word

than to a negative one. You cannot imagine how many people called and vented to

me about how angry they were with the judgments they received. I eventually put

a stike lock on my door, because people were coming and in and backing me into a

corner just to vent their frustrations. I also had to be on the lookout for the

crazies out there. We also had to tangle with people who didn't want to serve on

the jury because they would lose too much money. Some were so unreasonable and

would not listen, they would talk over you, so I would calmly say that I

understood that they were upset, but I was going to hang up and when they felt

better, to call me back. They never did, no exceptions.

One day a man walked right in and stood before my desk. It was quite cold

outside and he had on a very thin shirt that could not shield him from the cold.

He had his hand inside his shirt like Napoleon, which could be harboring a gun

and he was looking for the judge. I called the police as soon as he left. That

was the serious part and now comes the funny part. They found him across the

street at the drug store. He had just come out of prison and had an ulcer and

was holding his stomach and going to the drug store for something to soothe the

ulcer. That was the only shirt he had, unfortunately. I don't recall why he

came to see the judge, but I felt I had to protect him whenever I could.

I am really sorry about your having to consider the BMT. That is always a last

resort, but I have found in my personal experience, that it is better to meet

something head on than to avoid it and live in denial. If that is your

pronouncement, you will have to follow through with it. I think you have been

very courageous throughout this whole ordeal. You have been very cordial

listening to everything and explaining away your predicament and why you had to

follow this path. You have a lot of support here, even though it is not

anything we would want to contemplate for ourselves. I know the window of

opportunity is very short, so you will have to act quickly once everything else

has been excluded. It is not an easy road, but I think you are up to it, as you

are living with this decision on a daily basis. I'm sure your doctor has

explained everything to you and there are some in this group who can also share

their experiences with you. It's not like you have a whole lot of options.

Sending you prayers and all good wishes,

Lottie Duthu

Once there was man who came to the office