Once Again, Surprised When I Needn't Have Been

I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Jim Tayoun at the Public Record. Before opening it I worried it would be something telling me not to write them any more letters if I was going to question his faith. Or telling me that since the paper had moved its offices I wouldn't get it free in the mail any more. Or telling me not to submit letters for publication if I was going to publish them here at the same time. Instead it was a friendly missive respectfully disagreeing with me. Perhaps I should have expected no less from a former politician, yet I had. Like my recent encounter with Connie Willis, this again illustrates how I still tend to anticipate the worst in how people will respond to me. But I suppose the more I test this expectation against reality and find it false (and see that it doesn't kill me when it's true either), the less it will worry me. The text of Tayoun's letter follows. Dear Eric Your response was well thought out by you. But seeing is believing and that is not the only miracle I have witnessed while in Lebanon. You probably would not believe what the people who benefited from these miracles will say. Sorry for you. Thanks for letting me know your thoughts. Jim Tayoun