DH

Kevin
We'll just have to meet some day. In many aspects -here-I am talking past you anyway. Don't take that the wrong way. Its just that in many aspects I am talking to those who are listening.... and not debating. At a certain point trying to "convince" someone of anything isn't fun anymore.
At this point I think we've stepped up to the plate and hosted enough folks of varied backgounds to pretty much settle doubts among those who were doubtful. Personally It's not that I'm uninterested in your views, just that I recognize that several of the naysers and debators seem to be affiliated with single Dojos or teachers with issues so I'm not much interested in a debate that will never move forward largely due to personality/loyalty issues.You wouldn't believe some of the P.M's I get.

Your tag line
"Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack." MG George S. Patton
seems quite appropriate. I'd only cautioned that cyniscism and learned experience are two different world views.

If I remain and talk at all, I am only interested in talkng to a broader general audience that continues to contact me to train. These folks are the ones who will actually improve at a far more rapid pace due to this level of training. They are the researchers who are getting an inkling of issues I believe are the truths of their art. There has been a blizzard of private emials that have gone out- each one of the dozens who have met us, who each have ther own network of friends who trust them. A word-of-mouth from trusted friends is the best reccomendation -I'll talk a little bit longer on the net and then stop again for a year or so to work with these folks.

It's that 2% I'm interested in talking to. I'm not trying to change everyone else's mind on the web. I prefer them to be the "other guys" anyway. For me its about finding the sincere "me's" out there. It was a good friend of mine who caused me to change my mind about sharing. "What about the sincere -you's" out there who are searching?"

When debating stops being interesting to me I quite. And in the back of my mind I now hear the words of the teacher who wrote me cautioning me that "all is not as it seems." That several guys only want to take it and claim that they had it all along-including two of his very own. He was more honest about his own skills then his own students! His words about "the smiles are all surface. A lesson they learned well from their Japanese teachers" are interesting words of advice I hear when I am now standing their looking at a smiling faced individual who wants "to learn."
It makes the "tone" thread and the crystal clarity of just who -really has the issues-take on a whole new meaning to me.
Good luck in your training, I have my own to consider as well
Cheers
Dan