| 5/13/2006 'Mike Elek Likes Little Boys' THIS ONE DEFINITELY needs an explanation. If you do a search on my name in Google or most other Internet search engines, this continues to show up in the top 10 or 15 results. It's irked me for some time that this thread survives, and I didn't realize it until a friend pointed it out to me. In 2002, I was a participant in a number of Internet newsgroups. They're public bulletin boards on a huge variety of topics, from computers to sports to recreation to lifestyle to arts and just about any other topic. Much of the newsgroup activity has moved on to various bulletin boards – a bit like the early days of computers with CompuServe, Prodigy, the old America Online and the many private dial-in BBS (bulletin board services). I was semi-active in a photography group, and one of the members there had a non-traditional lifestyle. Personally, I couldn't care less, because this person had a lot of good information to share. Several other participants decided that the person's lifestyle was more important. I thought I was doing the right thing by posting some comments that were in support of the person being attacked. About a week later, this posting arrived:
What I should have done was had it removed immediately. What I should have done in our litigious world is sue the person who posted that. And what I should have done is just stayed out of it. I decided not to reply to the thread, feeling that the less said, the better. I let it go, and not long after departed the newsgroups. I didn't give the thread much thought, and figured it would be buried in the heap of Internet trash. Not my luck, I suppose as this thread continues to exist. The topic of the original discussion, which was to trash my integrity, has changed so much that it's some rambling piece of nonsense. Just goes to show you that nothing dies on the Internet. Something to keep in mind, don't you think? • I can only think that whoever posted this is a pathetic person. I was going to wish something horrible on them, but that would make me as useless as them. • Regarding the topic. I love kids. All kids should have the kind of childhood that my brother, Tim, and I had. We were encouraged to go outside and play with other kids, sit on the porches of our elderly neighbors who would tell us great stories about when they were young and just not worry about adult-sized issues. We rode our bikes all over the place, played baseball in the summer, football in the winter and wiffle ball in the alley. First base was the middle of the garage on the right; second base was painted on the asphalt, I think; third was the garage on the other side of the alley; and the home run line was two telephone poles about 30 feet away. And if you swished on a pitch, you usually had to chase the ball as it rolled down the alley toward Louise Street. We bought firecrackers on the Fourth of July and shoveled snow in January and February to earn a few extra bucks. We were allowed to be kids – something I try
to pass on to my own daughter. I tell her often, "Don't be in a hurry to
grow up. You'll have the rest of your life to be an adult. Just enjoy
being a kid." |