When I met Richard he was in his teaching mode, I was a participant of one of his workshops at the time. And the few times I did speak with him one-on-one, he used every bit of skill that he had to make my world a better place. I can remember this one conversation I had with him. We were talking about structuring time. He looked at me, paced me into my shoes, and did this most fantastic installation. He accurately and perfectly mirrored back to me how I understood time, then said to me, "It is not about the technology, it's about the people." He said, "As you go out into the world taking what you have learned here, you will find many opportunities, many people along the way who have never learned to smile, never learned to enjoy their lives - put a smile on their faces. There will always be them that will tell you that you shouldn't interfere, that you should respect where people are at, as for them, they can fuck off."

He never, and I do mean never -- accepts anything less than someone's best, period. He has the behavioral flexibility to do whatever it takes to push people over the edge of what they think they can do. And that means that he may come up with for a given individual may, to the untrained eye, seem very ruthless.

I too have done the same thing. I have bounced people off of a wall, belittled them inside of a group, embarrassed them, hugged them, used kind words, used horrific words, painted pictures of death, pictures of life, pictures of loneliness, of happiness, of excitement, of whatever it took to move that person into a place where they could stop complaining and take care of themselves.

I happen to agree with Richard, do whatever it takes to get people over their bullshit and into a place were they can enjoy their lives. But to take such a position is to invite criticism, to invite attack. Most people out there are all too ready to accept what life has given them so far. They have little clue of the wonderment that exists all around them, in the faces of their children, their mates. If, in the end, I shake one of these people out of this kind of sullen death-like state, and that person finds time to love and respect his children, his wife, the wonderful gift of life that he has, I will have accomplished much. And, if inside of that accomplishment I lose the respect of 1 million anal-retentive, self-righteous, 'you gotta feel pain for the rest of your lives' assholes, so be it!

There is so much of life to taste, to savor, to enjoy, to share, to celebrate, to be humbled before.