One of the topics that we have talked about is confusion and how so many people seem to sleep in this world. I mean figuratively sleep, in that they sort of sleepwalk around in their lives and never actually wake up to the fact that truth is out there, waiting to be found. We had often talked about what sort of things one could do to bring understanding to the rest of the populous.
My own personal belief is that society does not turn out good people. I wish it did. Not that I'm saying it creates particularly bad people. There was a phrase I read once, which I shall have to paraphrase because I don't remember it word for word. It goes like this, 'The true test of civilization lies not in the census, nor in the amount of its crops, no. It lies in the type of man the society produces.' Don't read that in a sexist way either; it goes for humankind in general. But one of my main problems is with men only because I'm one of them, and I hate the way most of my sex act. See, I would tend not to call most grown males nowadays 'men.' I'd call them 'boys,' because most of them have never fully developed into true maturity.
But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, Denise had this great idea of a way that people could share ideas and then we would have something to go from, the web. So she came up with this idea of what we were and what she wanted to do. We were seekers after the truth, whatever it might be and she wanted to make a place that would support anyone who joined in that search.
It was a great idea, obviously. I have always had problems with the whole system -- schools or places of learning are no different. There aren't enough places actually dedicated to knowledge nowadays. Even though they shouldn't be, schools are bureaucratic businesses. And while the school itself might not be in the business of making money, the people within it generally are. That's my major problem with most schools nowadays.
But Denise had this idea of a place for interactive learning online that wasn't about money; it just cared about learning. She was so excited about it, even when it was rough going. And it was, especially at the very beginning. She worked really hard at it though. Even when she couldn't get enough stories or whatnot, she just kept going. Lucky for us she's stubborn like that.
One great thing about Denise is that she's just a wonderful person. She's highly encouraging to everyone around her; even during my worst months she always gave me positive feedback. And even when I was late in submitting my piece, she would accept it, and thank me for giving a submission. Believe me, with my, ahem, love of deadlines, I really tried her patience.
It amazes me how involved she was with the magazine. Always coming up with new columns, sections, graphics, or some features to make the magazine more interesting. She always went out to find new people and request their submissions. If it weren't for Denise, Seeker would never have been, much less become what it is today. It was her tenacity, and her caring that kept the magazine going through very difficult months.
(Copyright 6/01/99 by David Langer - No reproduction without express permission from the author)