It was a cool misty morning in the meadow. On either side, about 500 yeards apart were two lines of people wearing signs.

One one side, wearing mostly store bought signs (as they had yet to perfect their sign crafting **Art***) were the hapless newbies. Folks who had stumbled upon letterboxing by accident or by reading a "family fun" article and in their enthusiasm broke the golden rule of letterboxing - "Read the FAQ before you post or risk the wrath of the Elders!"
Some of their signs read:
"Another Newbie Post - So there!"
"Where do I buy that pink stuff, what is the pink stuff and why is it pink?"
"I thought Hitchhiking was illegal in most states? Why do you people endorse it?"
"I tried to use a compass but kept getting the pointy thing stuck in my eye" (Think about high school geometry, it'll come to you)
"My name is Bambi-what animal image would be good for my personal stamp, a cat?"
"Yes you're right-I DO want everything spoon fed to me - so there!" ("So there!" seemed to be their battle cry)
"What the hell is a letterbox? I just came for the free beer..so there!"
"Dislexics of the World Untie!!!" - This poor fool had mis-read the map and should be at the Dyslexics vs. Nat'l Spelling Bee Champs bloodbath two fields over.

And on the other side of the field, proudly wearing their handcrafted signs, covered in jewels or maybe just lot's of glitter, were "The Elders". Exhausted, harried folks worn thin to the breaking point by the constant barrage of inane posts that newbies make shortly after discovering what was once "their" special, secret hobby. It's seems they'll just let anyone join these days. Oh, for the good old days when people actually read the "Getting Started" section of the website before foisting themselves and their questions on the LBNA list!! Honestly, how many times a month can you politely say "Read the FAQ list, all of your questions will be answered there?" Well, enough is enough! It's time to show these impatient young pups who's in charge here! Some of their signs read:
"Postal Letterbox Posts make me Postal!"
"My microbox is so small it's invisible to the naked eye!"
"My hand-carved stamp can beat up your store bought stamp...anywhere, anytime!"
"I write all my clues in Klingon..Ka-plah!"
"No dogs allowed letterboxing-they'll eat my kids!"
"No kids allowed letterboxing-they'll drool on my dogs"
"No kids, Ferrets, lemurs, cats or humans allowed letterboxing - I'll eat them!!" (this one was held up by a dog)
"Unless you have P23,700 F10,000 X5,000,000 - you are not fit to wipe my nose!!"
"I eat newbies for lunch!!!"

Each side stood proudly glaring at each other, when off in the distance a voice yelled
"Have at you!" and they both rushed in and beat the livin' hell out of each other.

Then everyone felt a lot better getting all of their frustrations out and agreed not to take everything so seriously again. The newbies promised to be more polite and read up first and only ask questions when they were really stumped. The elders promised to try to remember what it was like when they were a newbie and still filled with the wonder and unbridled enthusiasm they felt when they first learned about this magical, wonderful HOBBY. And all was right with the world. Until one day, on the main list, there was a post that read...."Just found my first letterbox and I have LOT'S of questions!"

Have a great weekend ya'll. I'm going camping! Much less stressful. So there!




---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! - Internet access at a great low price.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]