Rick Courtright
Hawkeye
Hi,
I forget the year--ETA: our Members page says he joined on May 24, 2005, so he may have been gone close to 10 years ago already!--but today, July 3, marks the passing of our old friend, Jim Blair. Most of us who were around here at the time knew him as Piper. I never had a chance to meet him in person as many of you did, but always enjoyed whatever interchanges we had on the Forum.
One thing that always impressed me about Jim was his ability to look at a situation from several directions, and if you took Position A, he'd take Position B, if for no other reason than to get you to think, as much as I dislike the term, "out of the box." He may have been a stauncher supporter of Position A than you were, but you wouldn't know it! In fact, there was a story from one of the Tin Star get togethers where someone asked him about that. As memory serves, Jim answered that "People think I'm a liberal, but in truth I'm to the right of Attila the Hun. I just I like to see people think."
There were times it seemed he didn't suffer idiots lightly as they say, but even when challenged by one, he kept an even temper. I admired that, and maybe do so even more today, as we keep getting closer to a "my way or the highway" approach in so many areas of our lives. In many ways, this being one, Piper's commentary reminded me of my own grandfather, who had a favorite line: "Now let's take a look at this." There's much to learn from anyone who approaches life that way.
Jim, we loved you while you were here, miss you since you've been gone, but you are certainly not forgotten! Rest in peace, old friend. If someone here has a warm cheap beer getting ready for the weekend, please take a moment to raise it in his honor!
Rick C
I forget the year--ETA: our Members page says he joined on May 24, 2005, so he may have been gone close to 10 years ago already!--but today, July 3, marks the passing of our old friend, Jim Blair. Most of us who were around here at the time knew him as Piper. I never had a chance to meet him in person as many of you did, but always enjoyed whatever interchanges we had on the Forum.
One thing that always impressed me about Jim was his ability to look at a situation from several directions, and if you took Position A, he'd take Position B, if for no other reason than to get you to think, as much as I dislike the term, "out of the box." He may have been a stauncher supporter of Position A than you were, but you wouldn't know it! In fact, there was a story from one of the Tin Star get togethers where someone asked him about that. As memory serves, Jim answered that "People think I'm a liberal, but in truth I'm to the right of Attila the Hun. I just I like to see people think."
There were times it seemed he didn't suffer idiots lightly as they say, but even when challenged by one, he kept an even temper. I admired that, and maybe do so even more today, as we keep getting closer to a "my way or the highway" approach in so many areas of our lives. In many ways, this being one, Piper's commentary reminded me of my own grandfather, who had a favorite line: "Now let's take a look at this." There's much to learn from anyone who approaches life that way.
Jim, we loved you while you were here, miss you since you've been gone, but you are certainly not forgotten! Rest in peace, old friend. If someone here has a warm cheap beer getting ready for the weekend, please take a moment to raise it in his honor!
Rick C
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