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From: Dale Williams
Date: 10/18/02
Time: 8:21:56 PM
Remote Name: 216.76.211.2
Hey Steve.
You're right, of course—there isn't one bottom line. Stuttering means different things to different people. In fact, the original opening line was "What's it all about?" which would have better reflected this. The problem was I couldn't think of an ending. More specifically, I couldn’t think of one that wasn't lame.
It's interesting: I sent the question, "What's the bottom line?" to members of the local support group and received varied answers (and not one of "say what you want to say even if you stutter"), so, yes, different people have different bottom lines. In trying to organize them all into a story—no simple task, BTW—I realized how much they overlap, e.g., you can't take risks w/o self-acceptance, you can't say what you want to say w/o desensitization to listeners, you can’t channel surf for Anna Nicole w/o seeing the Dell kid, etc.
So maybe there is one bottom line, after all: Something that encompasses acceptance, risk-taking, openness, pride, self-help, and everything else you mention. Or maybe it doesn’t matter—maybe these are really all the same goal. And even if they’re not, maybe achieving one gives you the rest.
Obviously, I’d have a tough time answering your prelim question.
Thanks for doing such a careful read of the essay. I actually remember one point in the writing process when I included something and said to myself, "Steve Hood will like that, even if no one else does."
Dale