In answer to several letters that have been sent to our Whaley Family Members, I would like to know what is happening? I have been on this list for three years and I have never noticed anything like this before. Please permit me some space for my thoughts. To Terry and the lady who was insulted by the joke: You can't be more Southern than I am. All four parental lines are "deep South", even my French and English ancestors came from South France and South England and Southern Ireland. I remember jokes about in-family marriages in my families. One old uncle use to say country families did not know there were people not kin to them until cars were invented and they could go to town. My mother said she went to medical school out of state so she could find a husband that wasn't a cousin. I guess I am getting old, but I remember when people (especially fun-lovin Whaleys) had a sense of humor. We laughed at ourselves and laughed with each other over human frailties. We understood that no one is without flaws. Today, everyone is so angry, we fight back because someone has hurt our feelings. We try to read deep dark meanings into every statement. Everyone and every situation has to be handled with kid gloves so as to not damage our self-esteem. That means we have no self-esteem to begin with. "We must be politically correct" has resulted in suspicion. This is the reason that we are now so hateful, we are trained to believe that every word could be an insult. Maybe if we try to understand the lighter side of life instead of hunting for things to make us angry, we might become a more tolerant nation, AGAIN. Don't take life so seriously! Joy Woods