A Facebook Exchange - by Hénock Gugsa

In response to WZ's Facebook post (thread) of 5/20/16 titled: 

"all right, losing "friends" who must be H Rotten supporters"
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Mr. DB :>  Real friends share the same principles as you do.   Anyone voting for that @#%&! [Hillary Clinton] obviously do not. F@*k 'em [sic]. You're better off without them anyway.
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Hénock Gugsa :> "Real friends" don't have to agree with you all of the time, but they should stand up for your right to be different from them at times. Also, true friends don't judge ... instead, they strive to understand!
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Mr. DB :> I didn't say they have to agree with you on everything. You obviously don't understand what I said. I said they have to have the same PRINCIPLES as you do. I couldn't be friends with people who don't share my BASIC PRINCIPLES, and neither could anyone else. This isn't about what kind of music someone likes or what kind of food is their favorite, it's about the very foundation of how you view cheating, corruption, lying, abuse of power, and other things that aren't (or shouldn't be) negotiable in people. That's what I said, that's what I meant. And for the record, I'm pretty sure Wynne understood.
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Mr. DB :> BTW, people "judge" all the time. If you didn't, you'd be friends with literally everyone! I don't like everyone! Neither does anyone else. That's a fact among ALL creatures. That's why some people have "poor judgement" and other have "good judgement". There's a difference between realizing that some people are bad for you, and being UNFAIRLY judgmental within your circle of friends.
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Hénock Gugsa :> It's true some people are bad for you. They could be even worse ... they could even be toxic to you. Thank you for your clarifications, I am in agreement with you on your initial post above. I was really questioning why such people were labelled "friends" to begin with. As you know, many people here on FB compile hundreds of "friends" over time. I don't think people do any serious vetting when they make "friends" here on FB. The term is used too lightly here on FB! Yes, people do "judge" people all the time, and that is unfortunate ... and I'm saying that those that judge you are not "real friends" to begin with. So, in the end you and I are on the same page, I hope.
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Mr. DB :> I agree about FB. When I first got on, I was naïve as well and let too many people on. Now, I'm in the position of having to get rid of people who I never hear from, whom I don't know and haven't talked to, who don't ever respond to my posts, or post questionable or downright horrible things to their page. I was hoping you'd understand that I meant the difference between UNFAIRLY judging someone and FAIRLY judging them based on what they've shown you to be.  And I'm glad that you do that, or else you'd be in a lot of danger, here and in the real world.
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Hénock Gugsa :> True. There is indeed real danger here [on FB] !!!
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SUMMATION ===> As you may have observed, Mr. DB appears to be a highly-strung, opinionated, and harshly judgmental type of person.  I do not see much compassion or tolerance (understanding) in his words.  I had to employ a lot of patience and diplomacy, and it was difficult getting my point across.  What's more, he was taking everything I said personally, and he was defensive to the end.  Since my efforts to sway Mr. DB from being judgmental obviously failed, I had to try to get him to understand what "true (real) friendship" means.  I don't think that I succeeded in that either.  I am now wondering how he would have reacted if I had said to him: "Judge not lest ye be judged."

Reading "The Catcher in the Rye" - by Hénock Gugsa

/// Reading "The Catcher in the Rye" /// by Hénock Gugsa
===================== Back in high-school, in my teenage days, I never got around to reading J D Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye".  I'm sure many of my friends and acquaintances have read it and probably came away with some lasting impression of one sort or another.

I don't exactly know why I have never read it.  Probably, it was because I was more drawn to other books or activities.

Well,  now I am in my later years for sure; and I am determined to challenge myself to accomplish the things that I remember I never bothered to do from start to finish.  So, I have started and actually I'm two-thirds of the way reading this iconoclastic book.  To be sure,  many readers and critics have hailed it as the greatest literary exposition on America's youthful angst and self-torture.

Although, I haven't finished reading the book yet, my impressions and opinions of the leading character are already negative and  unsympathetic.  I must also confess that it has been well over three months since I borrowed the book from the library ....  I've already extended the loan three times!
 
The reason it is taking me so long, I suspect, is because I've found the book so depressing.  The main character, Holden Caulfield, is such a self-centered, egoistical, nihilist that it is very difficult to see any redeeming quality in him.  He is such a snot about everything and everybody (including sometimes himself) that you want to slap him, or walk away from him in disgust.  I know there is an irony here, and it is that I am beginning to think and sound like him.  And, this probably is the great lure of the character, and of course of the author himself.  I can say without reservation that Mr. Salinger's genius is that he has packed all this insight about alienation, frustration, and rebellion in the person of a lone young man who is undergoing serious growing pains.

In conclusion, I promise I will bravely finish reading this classic book.  I have to find out the meaning behind the title: "The Catcher in the Rye".  And maybe after that, I will think of tackling "Moby Dick"....  That was required reading in my English class at ERHS.  I think Mrs. Barrett expected  the class to read it completely, over one single week-end!

But what about my social life, Teacher?!!! 

== Postscript :  I did eventually finish reading the book.  I now declare that I am proud I did ! ==