From: Sue Kovios <bradford@globalserve.net>
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 17:27:34 -0500
Fwd Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 10:33:23 -0500
Subject: Who Would Joe Firmage Thank?


To The List and Archive Readers, etc.:

I personally would thank everyone involved in this field and any
other field involved directly or indirectly.  I have asked Mr.
Firmage (Mr.? Heck I'm older than him but I respect him) to
respond to the e-mail below which I have sent him. I don't
expect an answer back, but I do feel there should be a little
more credit to all of you.

---

Dear Joe,

I welcomed you to the field of ufology a little while ago.  I
appreciate your concerns that this is something that should be
opened up to a greater degree than it has.  Your efforts have
not gone unnoticed, nor should they.  I do give you credit.

I've been following your 'spotlight' on the web, tv, etc.....and
unless I've missed something, where's the gratitude to all the
oldtime researchers, the one's who have accomplished so much
with no funding, no money, no spotlight, the one's who spend
sometimes 20 hours a day in front of a computer getting the
messages out their on mailing lists or on the web, whose
families are less than understanding but are sacrificed and put
on the backburner, only to be destroyed in the pursuit? Where is
the spotlight for those who 'have' gone public, appeared on tv
shows, written books, have given in to ridicule and slander,
lost jobs, therefore their livelihood, due to others' labels of
this being a 'cult' or a psychological disorder?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but there are many in the
field of ufology that deserve to share your spotlight, but never
will have that opportunity because they don't have the
funding/cash flow, and must therefore remain in the background,
while you are deemed a 'god send' to this field and are
recognized for your accomplishments, which are parallel to or a
compilation of much of what others have accomplished.

This is not the 'beginning of a long process'.  This is a
process that has been carried on for over 50 years, before you
were born, and from what some believe, a process that has been
around as long as mankind and has probably been questioned and
studied that long as well.

You share the spotlight with many and your credentials do not
put you above them in any shape or form.  You are only sharing
in this endeavour, it is not yours.  I am all for someone who
has the money and guts to go forward to push what everyone else
has accomplished and that's what I see happening here, only
everyone else is still in the shadows, except for a chosen few.

You have chosen not to respond to EBK (UpDates) to appear on his
radio show 'Strange Days... Indeed' (on CFRB being one of the
largest radio stations in the country) which would be an
enormous asset to you, and yet you choose only a small circle of
lesser knowns to the general population.  Errol doesn't get paid
for what he does. He does what he does out of a shear feeling of
necessity and many times does sit in front of his computer for
20 hours a day, the _only_ reward being thanks from list
subscribers for having someone like him getting the information
out.  That makes it worth his while.

You say your only agenda is to get this information out there
but I question that, as there are many who have done just that
for many years and still only lurk in the shadows.  Not everyone
does it for the fame and glory, they 'are' humble and don't seek
it.  Many give up their homes, families, and jobs to do it, and
many not by choice but out of circumstance because it is 'their'
calling.  Your calling has been accepted by the media because of
your status while others have to sit back and be poo pooed
because they are an 'average' Joe in the eyes of the public.  I
appreciate what you have done for the field as far as waking up
the non-believers, etc. via the media and I give you credit.
But you aren't the only one who deserves it.

As far as marketing goes, 'The Truth' has no monetary value in
many eyes and those who do it for no monetary gain (be it for
ufology or other business ventures) are the real credits to
ufology.  If one makes money off books to support themselves and
at the same time gets the truth out there, as unbelievable as it
may seem (because they're just the average joe), there's nothing
wrong with that, as long as they're making an honest living.  If
it only supports their travel to interview, investigate,
research and publish, they're not doing it for monetary gain.
It's their livelihood.  You will always have another way to
support your livelihood, you're young enough, you've established
yourself in the computer industry and you don't need someone
else's support if you choose ufology is not your venue.  You are
devoting part of your life to this now, but not forever, and
that's the difference between you and those who have done it all
their lives, and being in your financial position makes you
capable of being diversified and able to move on to another
thread of life that interests you.

'The Truth' is not marketable, it's not a $64,000 question,
there are no prizes to be won, it's not a game show.  The only
two things that should ever profit from it are the mind and
mankind. It's not open to salesmen.  You are leading a horse to
water to make him thirsty, not to drink.  Okay I've signed up,
I've got my free gift (the condensed version of The Truth), now
what.

I leave you with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt 26th President:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually
in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,
who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and
again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings,
who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy
cause, who at the best knows in the end the high achievement of
triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly,
knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls
who know neither victory nor defeat."

I'm not saying you haven't worked hard for your accomplishments,
I'm sure you have, but what about all the others who have worked
just as hard, if not harder, and even helped you get where you
are in this field with their books, their research and findings,
their ideas, their commitment to this before you were born, all
to introduce 'you' to this field?

Sincerely,

Sue Kovios

"Never doubt the power of a small group of committed people to
change the world.  That's about the only way it has ever
happened in the past."  Margaret Mead