6450: Laleau comments on Goff & Rockwood (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: NLaleau@aol.com

I was thinking about buying Stan Goff's book, and now I am sure I will. I'm 
very interested in reading what went on inside a man who goes through that 
kind of "sea-change." I also found Larry Rockwood an extremely interesting 
person, for the same reason. I deeply respect the kind of guts it took for 
him to carry out an act of conscience far beyond anything that most people 
could have imagined. 

To me, "guts" is not just standing up and fighting physically against odds. 
Lots of people can grab their guns and risk their lives for something they 
and other people understand is right. I think the harder risk may be the 
demand of personal conscience, where despite one's lifelong loyalties to 
family traditions and peer beliefs, conditioned by the environment one lives 
in, finally one day something happens to show a person how mistaken the whole 
"project" is, and, letting it all fall, he or she steps out in the truth, 
despite the consequences. People who "go along to get along" could never even 
imagine that this kind of courage exists--they would have to label it 
treachery or lunacy.

It reminds me of the story told about the hymn "Amazing Grace." Apparently 
the author was a young sea captain of a slave ship. One night in the midst of 
a terrific storm, when he was at sea with a human cargo, he apparently 
understood what he was doing... and he wrote the hymn. On his return to 
England he ditched his whole career and became an abolitionist and a 
preacher. Or take the story of St. Paul on the road to Damascus.  

This can happen to anyone who wants it.

I usually like Simidor's comments, but sometimes I think he goes too far with 
rigid thinking. He could be right, of course... Stan Goff and Larry Rockwood 
might both be fakes or agents, etc. I prefer to think they are exactly what 
they present themselves to be. And as I did have occasion to meet Larry 
Rockwood face-to-face, I am strongly inclined to believe he, at least, is 
authentically what he says. I don't think he needs any encouraging words from 
me or anybody else, nor does Stan Goff. The kind of courage both these men 
must have, to have taken the steps they took, would indicate that the 
criticisms of those who misread them wouldn't matter a whole lot.

Thank you, Stan. Thank you, Larry. 

Nancy Laleau