Jeffrey D Angus wrote:

Yet some people still carry as if dropping Element 2 was somehow
banning CW (Morse Code) from the airwaves.

I enjoy cw. It is a positive part of my life.

But there is exactly one reason why I have been able to experience this
pleasu The FCC _forced_ me to invest the effort, and endure the
pain, to build this skill. It was not fun at first. I got my novice
license when I had one year to build my code speed to 13 wpm or I would
be off the air. At first that process was drudgery. But at some point
it became fun. It has been fun ever since.

There's a good analogy with learning a foreign language. At some point,
it transitions from active effort to being natural. People in their
first week of learning Spanish can't comprehend the pleasure of being
able to read Don Quixote as the author actually wrote it.

Without the FCC's heavy handed pressure, I would not have learned a
skill that has given me great pleasure in my life.

So now that the requirement is gone, the number of people who have the
opportunity to enjoy the pleasure of cw will be much reduced. There are
people who will learn cw on their own, but not many. Most new hams
won't know that they're missing anything.

For those of us who enjoy cw, the issue of no-code was a difficult one.
My personal opinion is that, in spite of what I said above, removing
the cw requirement was the right decision. Yes, it will deprive some
people of an enjoyable experience. But we need new recruits, and the cw
requirement was a roadblock to new people entering the hobby.

73, Steve KB9X