Listen. Do not have an opinion while you listen because frankly, your opinion doesn't hold much water outside of Your Universe. Just listen. Listen until their brain has been twisted like a dripping towel and what they have to say is all over the floor.
-- Hugh Elliott, Standing Room Only weblog, 02-14-2003
A few months ago, I found this quote while I was looking for something else entirely. It stopped me cold. It said in a very few words, all I wanted to be able to do when someone I care about (or maybe even someone I just met) needs to talk.
I made the quote part of my signature, replacing a rather sarcastic Douglas Adams quote, I think. Or maybe it was Terry Prachett. In any case, I removed the witty barb, and added something that became a goal. A standard. But I had no idea who the author of this quote was.
As I was driving to work this morning, the quote popped into my head. Along with:
"Look up the author."
It was as clear a message as if someone had said it. No, I am not hearing voices...it was a direction in my mind. A strong one.
So I came into work and looked it up. And I found the quote and the Standing Room Only weblog. But no entries more recent than 2006. So I searched again. I found a website that did not seem to be related and started reading that -- RealLivePreacher.com. Very cool site. So I added it to my blog list and went back to reading. And then I found it...information about who Hugh Elliot is. Where he is. And best of all, where I could find him online!!
Hugh Elliott, besides being a talented writer with a knack for saying exactly what needs to be said in an amazingly clear and unique way, is a man living with AIDS. A man who has, by his own report, lost his family because of his disease. A gay man who, in his new blog, is reading the Christian Bible -- not as a Christian, but as a person who is curious and wants to understand what it says. No agenda to prove it right (or wrong, for that matter.) Just a reader.
Check out his observations and thoughts as he reads. And don't miss his conversation with G-d. We could all learn something from that one.
2 comments:
hi.
I think it is awesome that Hugh's words meant so much to you that you needed to look him up.
Hugh is my friend. In real life, as well as on the internet. He is a fantastic writer and an even better friend.
I just wanted to thank you for being so kind to him. You really should give Standing Room Only a read.
Go back to the archives. There is some great stuff there.
:)
OH, and on the side, you have him down as HUGE ELLIOTT instead of Hugh.
I mean, he is tall... but...
Happy happy.
Susiederkins
Suzie:
Thank you for your nice comment! And sorry about that "Huge" typo (pun intended!)...it's corrected now!
You're very lucky to have a friend like that...the quality of his soul comes through so clearly in his writings.
Lindsay
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