Dear Foxxy, my saintly Nan, a tough old farm girl with a heart full of solid-gold love, also used to say:
"You can best judge a person by the smiles they leave in their wake",
and that always struck me as very accurate indeed.
Eagles and sparrows each have their niche, but they're both still feathered flying creatures and equally deserving to be taken seriously.
Within the context of this forum (nest) that means belittling either for being different is counter-productive to good communication, wouldn't you agree?

Dear Bruce,

You're preaching to the converted.

Try addressing your post to Individual.

He's the one who needs to know about your
wonderful golden-hearted Gran - and heed
your advice - given so generously and freely.

Good Luck with that - we've been trying to reach him
for years on this forum. But his favourite descriptive
words are "moron," and "idiot" and that makes things
a bit difficult as you'll find out for yourself.

Paul you miss the important point, in fact the only one.

It is just as well the idiot inner city chattering class, are so incompetent, or their efforts to destroy farming & mining would be like committing suicide.

In earlier times, without the farmer, & today add the miner, there is no reason for any of the cities & their population to exist.

In fact there is no possibility for cities & their population to exist without some productive people to supply the food & pay for the imports that the rest of the country depend on for their existence.

So what is good for the farmer, [& miner], is essential for people like you to exist. If ever you do succeed in making mining & farming economically impossible in Oz, it will be you & your mates doing that impersonation of the wahoo bird.

Do be careful, it's dark in there.

Hasbeen,

Which, of course, gives the perfect opportunity to quote Donald Horne's sentiments from "The Lucky Country".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Country

"Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck."

"Horne's statement was an indictment of 1960s Australia. His intent was to comment that, while other industrialized nations created wealth using "clever" means such as technology and other innovations, Australia did not. Rather, Australia's economic prosperity was largely derived from its rich natural resources. Horne observed that Australia "showed less enterprise than almost any other prosperous industrial society."

Not much has changed.....

Donald Horne went to his grave regretting the use of those words that were always misunderstood and misrepresented by hack journalist and lazy politician alike.

He was not the first to criticise the cultural cringe that permeated society and limited success for locals with talent and merit, Australian business included.

He was arguing against complacency, not for it. There are many who have either deliberately or stupidly misunderstood. Not many people and rarely journalists actually read books though. They skim for bits that suit their own pre-existing opinions.

The cultural cringe remains as strong as ever in some quarters. Tall poppies too are soon lopped.

otb,

Precisely!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Country

"The Lucky Country" is a nickname for Australia,[1] taken from the 1964 book of the same name by social critic Donald Horne. It is generally used favorably, although the origin of the phrase was negative. Among other things, it has been used in reference to Australia's natural resources, weather, history, distance from problems elsewhere in the world, and other sorts of prosperity."