I agree with you on stats. That is why I suggested we leave them out. (Stats always have their place. They are factual. That is why some people do not like them.)
Your statements of not engaging in discussions to change anyone's opinions, trying to help others when I can, and then not expecting anyone to change their mind are contradictory. How do you expect to help somebody if you have little to no hope of opening their mind to your side? (What sides? Why must there be sides? If I help someone become better at finding treasure, who is on who's side?)
Everybody always has a right to their opinion, agreed. Anybody seen Dano recently? (Don't know Dano.)
I have never lost a friend during a discussion. (I have. That's how I learned not to debate with friends.) Treasure Hunter and I have different views on the 2nd...last week I invited him to go hunting with me. (Your views on the Second are all wrong. Okay now...is there any way I can ever make you believe that?)
What is the point? The point is to learn more about the other person's opinion so you can constantly reevaluate your own for faults. (I do not care what anyone's opinion is. What faults? There are no faults in my opinions. That's the whole point. I have the courage of my convictions.) When I started on this forum I had several opinions that have been changed by me being openminded. (Good for you, but who cares?) I could have refused to change. (You entirely miss the point. There is no need to change, it is not about a refusal.) I have the facts to back up that side. DieselRam, Treasure Hunter, Onfire, RelevantChair, Chadeaux and others have helped bring me back towards the middle. (The middle of what? I do not live in the middle. People who stand in the middle of the road get run over.) I have learned from them and I hope they have learned from me. That is the point, my friend, that is the point. (A bit condesending, don't you think?)
You do not have to respond. I respect Onfire and do not wish to look like a bully and I have no desire to compare my intelligence to anybody else's. (On my worst day you could not bully me on your best day.) Perhaps I jumped the gun on my first response. Youth has a tendancy to do that. Of course, youth beat back the British and forged our constitution. (I seem to remember a few old codgers were involved back in 1776. People like Ben Franklin for example.)
Your mistake is in assuming you have a debate with a person who has no need to debate. That's the point I am trying to make. I don't need to change my mind and I have no desire to change yours. I just don't care what you believe. Many years ago there were Greek Philosophers who believed all the problems of the world could be solved through talk, debate and discussion. They became known as Sophists. It is the root for the word Sophisticated. Yet, all the time they sat and talked, somebody had to plant the grain, tend it, thresh it, grind it and bake it into bread. While they talked, wars raged around them. Talk is just talk. It solves nothing. The only good use of talk is to teach someone something they can use.
Wisdom is all you have learned and not forgotten. Those of us with age always have some wisdom. It is our hope that as a final useful act we can pass some of that on. There is no better college than the school of hard knocks. Our great sadness is that it is not often that those we try to help will listen.
!! WHERE
My day was long and my nights are longer. I am spent this evening. However, I accept your challenge. Start a new thread, pick whatever topic you like, and let us have a debate/discussion on it.
