cc: file, Mom, Sara and Des, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Darrell and Nancy Krueger, Charles and Diane Cluff, and Claude and Katherine Warner, Forest and Amy Warner, Ivan and Chell Warner, and Eric and Renee Miner
"This week I got responses from Chuck Cluff and `Sweet Paul.' I was particularly impressed with what Chuck wrote. He gave permission to post his `Responselet,' which I have done. I didn't ask permission from Paul, and just posted his because it said `Sweet Paul.' For those, like Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Luana (or Paul when he gets to Siberia) that don't (or won't) have access to the WWW, I will be glad to forward copies of any e-mails I reference, if you request them. Otherwise, they are available for reference at http://www.walden3d.com/hrnmen/9641a.html and .../9641b.html. The comments I received got me thinking . . . .
I started this `Thoughtlet' project while writing a `White Essay' on `Virtual Seminars' to put in words some of the things we have been working on over the last few years. In the original version, "Accessing and Managing Knowledge," there is a long section on `Mentors,' `Media,' and `Learners.' In this section I was attempting to put my thoughts about communication down on paper. Partly the thoughts were based on the fact we do not have the kind of communication I know we could have in our family. Does anyone? My sister Sara's, Uncle Lloyd's, Aunt Luana's, Chuck's, and now Paul's Responselets have helped convince me of the value of this effort. It might be several years before you kids are convinced of or see the value. But in the meantime, I hope something I write reaches you when you need it and shows you how much I care.
To have communication you have to have a source, a receiver, and a media. E-mail or the WWW provides the media you are reviewing as a receiver. The Thoughtlets and Responselets are the source. The exciting thing to me about this project is that even if it is several years before you see any value in having your Dad send you an e-mail each week, someday there will probably be something said which you will find useful. At that time maybe the other messages will take on a life of their own in your life too. In some ways I've seen this develop with the interactive chess games with Roice at UT (http://www.walden3d.com/dialog/roice3) and Ben at A&M (http://www.walden3d.com/dialog/chess). Ben started the process and he has beat me 4:3 games. I beat him tonight when Sarah and he stopped to have dinner with us after talking to her parents about their planned engagement. Roice and I are in the midst of a testosterone fight to the finish. He did say on the phone tonight `Dad, I underestimated you.' And I must admit, it is a challenge playing one of the top 1% of the UT Engineering College students. But I have not given up yet! And Paul, did you know that Scott Allen, one of the Priests I used to teach, was a missionary to Moscow and was one of the first missionaries sent into Siberia carrying a money belt with US$20,000. Brother Rowbury told me about that trip today in Priesthood opening exercises. I got a call from Scott about a year ago, but have lost track of where he is. Vladimir Vyssolski, the Russian member in our ward (Alexes Dad), works for Amoco, regularly visits Russia, and has several good friends in Novosibirsk. He was very excited to hear about your mission call and would like to talk to you when you have a chance (713) 578-9729. Communication requires the transmission of data, information, knowledge, intelligence, or wisdom by some means to someone who is listening. Are you there?
The exciting thing to me is the fact this type of communication is outside of the boundaries of space and time. I can write something on Sunday and have a response on my desk the next morning from Pakistan or California. The only limit of the past or the future is the writer's memory (Alma 13:1 `Cite your mind forward . . .'). The living-library of Thoughtlets and Responselets will always be available (as long as is part of a reasonably secure process with backup and replication), and if I find someone willing to take on the Thoughtlets after I write my 480 or so. In fact, with Responslets from other family members, over a fairly short time, this project can grow to be a type of family scripture, with key word search and classified retrieval. Hopefully you will find some of the material relevant to one of your life passages. At worst case, there might be an idea that can be used for a talk or a school paper. And in the worst case, this effort can be likened to a quote Ron Crabtree gave in Sacrament Meeting today: `Plant corn for yourself and pecans for your grandchildren.'"