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First I want to say Happy Birthday to this forum, it’s administrators and the whole membership. Next I want to get a little maudlin and tell you what this forum has done for me, personally. When I retired from the military after 26 years of sheltered life, I experienced total culture shock. Every organization I joined turned out to be full of petty clicks that cultivated friendships only for the purpose of expanding their power base. I even quit the congregation of the church where I was married 26 years earlier, because of that same problem. My circle of friends were limited to my USNA classmates, military friends that I acquired over the years and The American Legion. The neighborhoods of my childhood were gone. Nobody talked over the fence with neighbors; they built 8 foot walls to keep everyone out! I became convinced that the world had turned into a cesspool of petty ambition. Then, one day, I was on the internet to find a new source for paper models, because my local store had gone out of business. I ran across mention of a paper model forum and decided to take a peek. At first, I thought it was some kind of propaganda façade. People actually helping and encouraging one another, and enjoying someone else’s successful venture! Then I realized that these were real people from all walks of life and culture across the globe (some from countries whose governments did not even like each other). Bottom line: you restored my faith in the human race. You are REAL PEOPLE and I thank you for that and Happy Birthday, one more time!
John
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