Affectionate Fighting

Copperfox

Copperfox

Well-known member
ATTENTION DUFFERS AND EVEN NON-DUFFERS!!!


Because the desperate non-combat between Bruiser and myself has risen to such intensity as to threaten--well, it doesn't really threaten anyone, but I wanted to pretend I had some excuse besides fun for this. Anyway, some onlookers have been appropriately amused by Bruiser and me trying to outdo each other with compliments and good wishes. There is much mutual provocation for this bitter conflict: Bruiser was used by God to send me spiritual comfort in the loss of my wife Janalee, while for my part I have tried to help and encourage Bruiser in her walk with Jesus. So naturally we furiously non-hate each other. Hence what we call the War of Glove--"Glove" meaning "G-rated love."

This thread is to be a gladiatorial arena where the dreadful battle of niceness and mutual affirmation can take place. The kind of love being practiced here NOT being the romantic/sexual type, ANY combination of opponents could equally clash here in titanic duels of gentleness and compassion and fondness. Let this be a place to let other people know that you Glove them.

I hope that others WILL come here to show appreciation to each other and lift each other's spirits. But the first event belongs to Bruiser and me. We'll show you how it's done....that is, if Bruiser has the GUTS to be publicly praised and applauded. Bruiser, are you here yet? You can run, but you can't hide; I'll approve of you and wish you joy no matter where you are! So, on guard!


AMANDA, MY FIGURATIVE GRANDDAUGHTER: Try parrying _this_ attack! I bless God for giving me the chance to make friends with you! Now I will maliciously and sadistically expose you to the tormenting embarrassment of having _everybody_ know that you're a wonderful girl and I'm proud to have you think well of me! I un-hate you and un-despise you so much that I wish for you to have all your troubles mowed down before you like dry grass! Had enough yet? In the Chinese buffet of life, you're the barbecued pork! In the orchestra season of life, you're Wagner's Tannhauser Overture! You're so outrageously good and lovable that nothing less than everlasting enjoyment of all God's blessings can BEGIN to be enough punishment for you!
 
I can't name an exact date when this military campaign of me versus Bruiser began, but I can give you an idea of HOW it began.

Bruiser--that is, Amanda--first came to my attention one time last year when she asked if someone would be willing to discuss faith issues with her. I took her up on it, and we had some very satisfying spiritual dialogue. She has a heart to serve God, and she asks intelligent questions. It wasn't long before I discovered that Amanda loves jokes; therefore, it was not so huge a quantum leap to start making jokes ABOUT the grandfather-to-granddaughter kind of affection that had come to exist between us. One time it seemed to me that she could use some cheering up; so I used the format of pretended anger and hostility to tell her what I really meant--namely that, in this appropriate and wholesome way, I love her very dearly. Already, by this time, she and I had begun using the word "Glove" to signify our G-rated non-sexual love for each other; so our pretended fighting became the War of Glove.

Okay, Bruiser, the war correspondent has finished interviewing me. Come out and fight like a sweet friend!
 
Ah ha. This is wonderful. Now I can tussle with my dearest Copperfox and not worry about frustrating others.

Joseph Ravitts. I would like to say that you are the most amazing person that I've ever known. You are truely a Christian man. I thank God everyday for allowing us to meet. I wish all of your troubles and moments of depression to cease. May God grant you everything that you wish to have in life, from joy and happyness to love. There shall never be a cloud of sadness or discomfort on your horizon. May many butterflys of comfort and joy linger around you and your beloved. I wish for God to not only clear your path of hindering obsticles but also the paths of your friends and family. I am also going to bombard you with tender Gugs. It makes my day to tear you down with many words of encouragement and Glove.

Now try to reverse that. :D
 
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brings more plants for this group

comes in with a whole bunch of peppermint & spearmint plants, dumps them in the room, gets her elephant shaped canister and waters the plants, sneaks out the door with a sneaky look on her face :) there does that count for fighting
 
Shortangel, this thread is potentially a free-for-all, much like the saloon brawls in old-time cowboy movies where men who had no part in the original quarrel would simply start hitting whoever was within reach. So Bruiser and I will regard you as having sniped at us both with niceness, as symbolized by the plants. We will carry a friendliness-grudge against you for that, and probably retaliate by asking God to bless you. For the moment, though, we are locked in the heat of our own relentless feud....


AMANDA!!!! So you did have the guts to show up and take your medicine! Well, just as an arm-wrestling match requires the opponents to clasp hands, I will pretend to be touching you--to give you a ferociously innocent and vindictively gentle pat on the back for all your good qualities! Then comes the verbal clinch of non-anger and non-hatred, as I tell you:

NOT ONLY are you a sweet and charming girl NOW; there is no doubt that you were sweet and charming back in grade school too! In fact--don't even try to deny this, you're being blasted with my good opinion from top to bottom--I am 100 percent certain that even as a BABY you were extra-super-ultra-hyper cute! You think you can get away with NOT being considered wonderful and winsome? Why, I'll bet you were such a good baby that you warmed your own bottle and changed your own diapers! And even if that isn't literally true, it OUGHT to be, because as you are now you are SO lovable and appealing that you deserve to have the past altered so that you WERE that perfect as a baby!
 
Perfect as a baby.... lol I don't completely think so. I know that I wasn't the best child in the class beck in grade school either. XD However I eventually came around.

Indeed, I have enough guts to take my own medicine. Besides, I don't think that I wouldn't be able to pass up an intense battle of Glove with my bestest friend. :D

JOSEPH - After you patted me on my back I in turn gave you a huge bear gug. I am also taking bets that you were a kind and gracious child yourself. Not bothering your parents and makeing them be proud of you at every possible moment. Also doing great at your school, not only grade wise but also with your friends. I bet that you set a great example of a christian boy even then.

Papa Joe, not only then, but even now, you are a good Christian. Someone whom people like me look up to everyday. Not only because you are probably tall than me but because you have a wonderful character and a brightening personality.
GGGGG

Shortangel - ahh plants. Not just regular plants either, you had to bring in the good scented kind. Did you see that Copperfox?
*laughing*
[Brings in some pretty sunflowers and lillys to brighten up the room.]
 
(The gently blazing light of mutual admiration from the competing flatterers touched off so much photosynthesis in Shortangel's plants that they grew into an instant jungle. With lines of sight obscured, Copperfox and Bruiser suspensefully stalked each other through the thick vegetation, like enemies in a suspense movie...)


Amanda, can you hear me? You suggested that I was a good Christian example as a child. HA HA, you sweet generous dear tender kind cute pretty talented friendly adorable innocent young fool, I've got you there! I didn't even _become_ a Christian until I was nineteen!! Which only reveals more of _your_ goodness, even in a mistake!! You want to believe the best about other people, so you optimistically _assumed_ that I had been a believer since boyhood. Admit it--you're _caught_ in the very act of wanting to think of ME as remarkably good and admirable, when in fact YOU are remarkably good and admirable!"

(Somewhere on the fringes of the jungle, hearing the continued exchange of metaphorical gunfire expressing a literal reciprocal affection, throngs of Dancing Lawn members gasped and quivered in suspense at the dramatic conflict. WHICH WOULD PREVAIL? Would Copperfox do the best at making Bruiser feel good about herself, or would Bruiser do the best at making Copperfox feel good about himself?)
 
Note to Miss Freckles: I remember now where it was that "fighting broke out" between me and Bruiser for the first time. It was on the Vampires thread, after Bruiser had shared with others there a horror-story-related article I had once written and later sent to her. And now back to the dramatic stalking scene....


The shadows of the miraculously-formed jungle play tricks with the eyes; Copperfox moves cautiously from treetrunk to treetrunk, watching for his formidable foe who for the moment is silent. It crosses his mind that he doesn't exactly know what to look for, since he's never seen Bruiser. But that's okay; what matters is the silly pretense of a dangerous situation in which something momentous is supposedly at stake.

Suddenly, as the tense background music reaches a crescendo, he encounters--not Bruiser, but Shortangel. And like a gun being fired in a moment of alarm, he cuts loose with a reflexive burst of affirmation and positive feedback:

SHORTANGEL! So it's you! This forest of symbolic scene-setting is YOUR doing! And I suppose you think you can sneak off without being thanked for your willingness to help create an entertaining atmosphere? NOT LIKELY! I wasn't bluffing about asking God to bless you--GOD BLESS YOU!!!! That'll teach you to go and insert yourself in a topic thread where you ARE welcome!! I'm so non-angry at you that I won't quit with approving of your involvement HERE; I'm going to force you to be thanked and appreciated for much larger things. Take note, all Duffers: Shortangel here has been trying to encourage disabled persons to pursue more independence--what nerve! Why, for that she deserves to be punished with an outright "stoning" of approval and gratitude!

Having dealt for the moment with the threat from Shortangel, Copperfox moves on, alert for Bruiser's next pounce which could occur at any time....
 
what are you doing in this thread? spreading love and affection, eh? but now that i have seen what happens here, i cannot simply walk away.

*waters plants*

that'll teach you, you loveable green (and yellow) creatures!
 
What's that, Miss Freckles? Can it be that you have the PRESUMPTION, the GALL, the BRASS, the NERVE, the CHUTZPAH, to think that you have a right to participate in the friendliness here--merely on the trivial basis that you DO IN FACT have that right? Why, just for that, I'll tell you that I think it's WUNDERBAR for you to be supportive of kindly, tender affection and compassion! I'll not-hate you so not-bitterly that you'll be not-sorry you ever barged in here, you, you, you, you NICE PERSON, you!!
 
To relieve the sweating tension while waiting for my principal adversary to show up once more, let me tell you all about my _original_ inspiration for this method of clashing combat.

When my slightly-younger sister Randi and I were both teenagers, and each other's closest pal, light-hearted fun enabled us to express affection to each other more physically than we would otherwise have been prepared to do. We had countless gentle wrestling matches, whose real and ONLY purpose was to allow us to hold each other lovingly for minutes at a time, while pretending to be quarrelling about the slightest thing.

Here as there, now as then, I offer people an outlet for types of love OTHER than the romantic and erotic (though I'll tell you from experience that playfulness is also helpful to _that_ kind of love). This isn't a dating service, it's an arena for such Glove-battles as my sister and I had. The only difference is that here it's the _words_ that will do the wrestling.
 
*sneaks in with a plate of freshly baked, warm, chocolate chip cookies without nuts for the combatants and a copy of her favorite recording of Les Mis for Copperfox, who had the audacity to start this thread and appropriate Yiddish words that would make my grandmother proud* Ha! That'll teach you all to be so affirming of each other. We mods shall not allow this impudence to remain unchallenged long. :D
 
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Zut alors, ma tres chere Fantine--do you think you can intimidate me with your talk of Mods? Do you think that merely being Mods renders you able to out-praise, out-flatter, out-compliment, out-affirm, out-morale-boost ME??? Sur la ponte d'Avignon, I smash your cookies to the floor! No I don't, actually I eat them to the last delicious morsel! (-: And then I let you have it for real:

Juliet, you have let yourself in for the friendliness-drubbing of your LIFE by venturing in here! Doomed fool, you must not have realized just HOW vulnerable you are to being popular and widely adored! Why, all I have to do is start proclaiming how indescribably fortunate your husband is to have you; in olden times, he probably would have had to fight at least forty men to get the chance even to court you! No, you dare not contradict my compliments to you, for your husband will side with ME! Seldom is so much physical beauty, intellectual sharpness and Christian character combined in one gracefully petite young lady. No, don't try to run away now--my respect for you and my esteem for you are blocking the exits! You're trapped; you cannot escape from being told that you are a DEAR, WONDERFUL sister in Yeshua!!!! Okay, you are--oh, I already said it, didn't I? Okay, I guess you can go for now; but if you ever DARE to show yourself on this thread again, be advised that you will be spoken even MORE highly of!!!
 
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Copperfox, how DARE you saying all those nice things to Inkling, she even DESERVES it. How could you be such a non-cruel, polite and nice person to even think about saying these kinds of thinks to such a GREAT mod as Inkling is... *mutters*

So, that's like what the point is?:eek::D
 
Yes, Lieke, you got the point. Although self-esteem talk is often over-stressed in modern Western society, that doesn't mean that we _shouldn't_ boost the self-esteem of people we find worthy of our high regard. And just as my sister and I could feel more free to love each other through play-fighting, I think that this play-quarrelling may loosen people up to be more generous in praising each other's good qualities.

SO WATCH YOURSELF, KID; YOU NEVER KNOW WHO MAY BE LURKING IN AMBUSH, WAITING TO EXPRESS A RUTHLESSLY FAVORABLE OPINION OF YOU!

But now, where has Bruiser gotten to? She and I have some unfinished mutual-approval business to take care of.
 
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