Mulling.

Twelve hours in a location, undisclosed due to legislation in force. Twelve hours of analyzing biomechanical and psychomotor patterns, of being a gentle hand on a shoulder, the sharp command that prevents an injury; the negotiator, technician, pupil, teacher, confident and (why the hell not?) friend. As jobs go, I like it just fine.

Mulling concepts over (always) on forgiveness, comradeship, conquests, trust, and persecution.

And my colleague Madcreeping got another ban. He'll "get by with a little help from [his] friends"... They're not going to shut him up if I've got something to say about it.

The problem with the concepts in my head: they usually appear in the wrong logical order. The consequence tends to feature before the cause. Hey, I'm only an ape! The prosimian avatar is just a smokescreen.

Persecution is the "argumentum ad nominem" taken to the extreme. A person hounded for who that person is. My friend Madcreeping does not have difficulty fitting the bill. Oppositor in Colombia (strike one), artist (strike two), blaspheme atheist, acerbic in his publications as he alone can be (strike three, 30 day ban).

Trust is (for me) the reasonable certainty based on facts and sound logical argumentation. This includes my trust in people. Personal ideas in a personal blog, of course.

Comradeship is what springs from sharing common standpoints and goals, A comrade is not necessarily a friend, though it can easily be.

Conquest. It is an act of force or deception. He (or she) who seeks to conquer, does so at a cost to other. It is in order to obtain by pressure or guile from other. It has no place between friends (true ones).

Forgiveness. The indult by which an offense is no longer taken into account, and no further redress is sought by the injured party. Then again, can there be such a thing as "intentional harm" between true friends? I think not.

What if the allegedly injured party sees no intentional harm? It would easily be considered Pecata Minuta. As long as two friends can be frank, forgiveness does not even enter the process, but empathy "I can understand why you felt you had to this, don't worry."

I'm not special and yet I am. Just as you are.

I will (shall) not debase myself with cheap tricks. I only havea finite life to live, and I intend to do it as myself. Nobody can do that but me. As the adagio goes:

"I AM WHO I AM"
(Fictional character, slightly less famous than The Beatles)