Goodbye 04-06-05

I read every one of those e-mails and letters. Some of them are so touching, they almost break my heart. Some of them are amusing. And almost everyone thanks me for the contribution I have made to their lives, whether in some small or large way.

The chances are very good, if you send me an e-mail, that you will NOT get a reply. There are number of reasons for this:

First, there's a pretty good chance that because of AOL and all the various spam filters, I won't even receive your e-mail message.

Secondly, because I receive so many e-mails, it would be impossible for me to reply to them.

You know, I have a vision I hope does NOT come true. Want to know what that vision is? I thought so.

I'm lying on a hospital bed under an oxygen tent. There's a knot of people standing around the bed as I lay there dying. One of them asks the doctor, "How long has he got, Doc?"

The doctor replies, "I don't know. He's going pretty fast. Maybe just another 7 or 10 minutes more."

"Well, is it okay if we lift the corner of the oxygen tent so we can say goodbye?" they beg.

The doctor says he'll leave the room to give these guys some privacy with me.

Then, with everyone else looking on, two of these guys lift the oxygen tent. One of them says, "Gary, hey I know it's a bad time and I know you're dying. But I've got just one quick question. You know stamps are 37¢ and my friend says he thinks we'll get better response using three stamps instead of one stamp. What do you think Gary? Will three stamps pull better than one stamp?"