2005 - 09-02-05

We've Got To Handle The Crisis At Hand!

I am going to be traveling out of the
country for the next few days. It will be a very short trip.
As soon as I return, I'll start writing more newsletters.

Before I leave, I am instructing Theresa to
post on my website some of the
thoughtful, intelligent and insightful feedback I received from
my readers. It's going to give you a lot to
reflect on. I hope it disabuses you of the idea we can solve
problems... just by... mindlessly throwing money at those
problems.

Something else I want to say. Yesterday's
newsletter and this one are both somewhat sloppy. Usually
when I write a newsletter, it goes through several drafts
and I tighten it up until it is a very "together" message.
These past two newsletters are not as together as I would
like them to be. But the truth is, neither am I. I'm not
really "together" at all any more. If I do have a few
moments of lucidity during the day, all I have to do is turn on CNN
for a few minutes and my capacity for clear-headed thinking
is destroyed.

Everybody is saying we need to come together
in this country. That's certainly true. But we need to come
together intelligently.

Ah hell. I hate this. It seems to me I'm
getting a little incoherent. So I'll stop writing now and
let Theresa take over from here.

Dear Gary,

My
reason for writing is to address the your
newsletter regarding disaster relief. You
asked, "What should we do? How can we help
these people?" And then you said, "The
truth is, I don't know."

I
would like to make a recommendation.

First
I want to say that I appreciate you for what
you're doing now and for all of the efforts
you have made in the past to put together
disaster relief funds.

On a
personal level, I subscribed to your
newsletter because of your marketing
genius. But the main reason I stay
subscribed is because I know that you are a
big-hearted, genuinely compassionate, very
cool and funny guy. I want you to know
upfront that this email is long for the sake
of these desperate and needy people and
because I want to give your noble &
loving intentions the time and attention it
deserves.