>>Why? My opinion, as I previously stated, is based on a significant amount of experience. You and I debating the issue will resolve nothing. There are no facts that you can bring to bear that will change my opinion, and I have given already the basis for it, which, you don't accept. To continue won't change either of our views and simply be a waste of bandwidth.
>
>
>George,
>
>A wise man once asked me what Wisdom was. I thought and thought and thought (all of 10 seconds :) and said 'Experience.' He smiled briefly and said 'flexibility.'
>I hope the above statement ("...no facts that you can bring to bear that will change my opinion") isn't set in concrete...

Gil,

Having taken sufficient time (I think) to consider this and some of the other posts in response to mine, I'd suggest the following.

Facts sometimes are based not on whether or not the weight of the evidence indicates them to be true, but rather on whether or not emotional experiece indicates them as such. In this case, I was dealing with personal experience against what I assumed, rightly or wrongly, was enotion. I stand by my statement.

As a much younger man, I sought wisdom. I've still a long way to go there. I still speak when I should shut up. I still am quiet when I should speak. I'm not perfect, and consider this part of the human condition.

When I was very, very young, I contracted a very mild case of polio. To this day, it still affects me. For a long time, I wore orthopedic shoes, I was told by doctors that I'd never be able to "ice skate, run fast, or jump high". Even then I took it as a personal challenge and was able to ice skate, run fast, and jump high. The words, "I can't" simply aren't in my vocabulary.

I'm often thought to be cold and unemotional. That isn't the case. In my personal life, I revel in the beauty of art, music and literature. In my professional life, however, I know that I'm only as good as what I can prove. I've learned to separate what the facts tell me from what I, personally want. And in that, I think I'm the wiser forr it.