warren c. e. austin
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 247
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Tim
It was never by design through my disclosure to have disparaged either you, your intent, this Message Board, or the intent of its' contributors.
This endeavour of yours will never be even "... just a little bit dirty". It's virtue shines clean and clear for all the world to see, in no small part because of your own contributions as moderator, but largely too because of all who share their thoughts here as well.
Had I the ability to do it all over again, I would, AND SHOULD HAVE, queried you privately in an e-Mail.
Nothing I have written here at a Place of Safety (or anywhere else for that matter), will ever come back to haunt me. Disclosure doesn't frighten me. If I had those concerns, I certainly would not have resonded to "Tim... of USA", and his anguished message of farewell in the manner in which I have.
I don't hide behind an alias; what you see as my handle, is what you get; it's the name on my passports - in one variation or another as determined by the legal requirements of the issuing authority.
I DO UNDERSTAND others having a need to shelter their identity; my not having done so is not to ridicule, or disparage, others for having chosen to by any means; nor would I ever succumb to such behaviour.
I reprint for all and sundry to find, an excerpt from an e-Mail sent to one of our younger participants - a message sent in follow-up to his own sent to me.
[I'm (for want of a better word) "gay"; caucasian; 6'3"; 150 lbs; aged-52; single never-married with two sons (the eldest 32, the younger 31, neither of whom is gay, with both knowing even before I adopted them as teenagers that I was); work from home designing industry-specific software for Marketing Research applications (often joint-venturing with selected other single vendors such as myself) whose clients are usually Public-sector or Non-profit Organizations; have two dogs (male age-21 Rottweiler, female age -19 Staffordshire Terrier) and occasionally care for one or the other of two pups (from the one and only litter of 24 that my two ever had) that each of my sons have; currently reside in Toronto Canada; have travelled extensively throughout the world; have lived for 6 months or more, at one time or another) in Corpus Christi and Farmer's Branch TX, Demming NM, Los Angeles CA, Charlotte NC, Chicago IL, London England, Edinburgh Scotland, Paris and St. Malo France and Geneva Switzerland; classically trained pianist, although it's been 20-years ot more since I touched a piano; toyed with the saxophone as a teenager; was an inveterate philatelist, and acknowledge authority in my field until theft of collection at age-25 ended all interest; rather "catholic" tastes in music and literature, although I am a voracious reader, often-times finishing a book-a-day when on a reading jag; I have contempt for prejudice, either in myself or others; I despise liars; always willing to give people the benefit of my doubt; prefer to view the world through "rose-coloured" glasses, but whether I do, or not, I ever cognizant of my surroundings.]
This should now be amended, as I have only one dog now although in reality it is two - having the current care of my eldest son's pup, or three again should I have the other son's at one and the same time - the female Staffordshire Terrier. The male Rottweiler quietly passed away in the early morning sunshine last Thursday with his head in my lap. I thought that he might have gone during the late evening hours on Wednesday, and sat very late with him, but he rallied. I fully expected to awaken to find him gone, but he awaited me when I arose; evidentially he had wanted me to carry him once more outside, and lie with him (just as I have done so often these past few months of his decline) that last time again feeling the warmth of another day's blessing. I can only hope that when my time comes, as it surely does to us all, that I will have someone to do the same for me.
Warren C. E. Austin
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