No, I'm not leaving. Wishful thinking. I did want to express my final thoughts on an issue, and I thought a play on the speech "Last Words" would be the best way to call your attention to this particular speech. I don't have the biggest soap box, I just have this empty Dr Pepper crate, but thought if I stood on my own corner, I could get a few of you to listen, and maybe even a couple to respond.

Will stepped up on his soap box and began.

We've come out here today, in force, to berate a man who made some particularly bad choices, which resulted in deaths to many people who probably didn't deserve to die.

And let me try to be quick because I'm keenly aware of our need for instant gratification.

H_F spoke not too long ago and touched on this topic, and I wanted to bring it back to the forefront. We need to take a look in the mirror and accept some of the responsibility for actions of others. A lot of us say that we don't control other people, but to some extent - we do. Now, when I say we, I'm actually talking to those of you running our crews, and particularly to those of you who run our fine cities. You have the most power and can effectuate the most change, so I wanted to include you in this discussion and invite any responses you might have. You have the power, and the opportunity to control many of the actions of those in your cities.

Somehow, someway, people become leaders in this world. I assume there is a process in place where discussions are held, and a determination is made that a particular person is ready for leadership. When that choice turns out to be the wrong choice, everybody jumps on that person who was selected to be a leader and he's stoned from here until the end of time. He may even be given an award down the line as the worst crewleader ever.

Shouldn't we accept some of the responsibility for creating this particular "monster," and for making the choice to give a person, so clearly not worthy, opportunities time and time again? I guess the response is - new life, new opportunity. But shouldn't we recognize a family's history is likely to repeat itself in the next generation, and the next generation?
And no, I'm not referring to one particular person. I'm just making generalizations. And I'm making observations about this community.

The biggest observation that I'm making is that I don't believe we learn from our mistakes. And because we don't learn from our mistakes, we are destined to repeat them. And this really goes for everybody, myself included. There are simply some mistakes that we continue to make over and over again.

We talk when we should shut up;

We shoot inactive gangsters without wearing any protection;

We choose crewleaders because of their family's experience, but don't acknowledge that their family history has been 90% negative;

We choose crewleaders who have absolutely no experience to avoid picking somebody who has too much experience;

We disrespect higher rankers;

We send unsolicited invites when clearly we should get to know people first;

We bob when we should weave;

And we zig when we should zag.

These are only some of the common mistakes that I observe, and have made in the past. So, I wanted to get your perspective whether you see the same mistakes being made over and over again, and whether we should take some of the responsibility for creating some of these mistakes.

Feel free to offer your opinion on this matter. But please be respectful to one another, and to me. I'm just trying to engage in a little debate about responsibility and our role in the actions of others.

trips over a empty Dr. Pepper can

And let me try to be quick because I'm keenly aware of our need for instant gratification.

Do you honestly expect us to believe you can say anything QUICKLY???

It is always easier to avoid taking ownership of a debacle instead deflecting blame or pointing to a "higher power" and stating it was in their hands. I think it happens less often than it should or could that is for sure. But why would you come out and say something is your fault etc when some would confuse the strength it takes to do that with weakness?

~HF~

I believe he is not taking the blame per se.  I think you're right Will.  When I first came into this thing of ours, I didn't know shit from shineola.  I have made some pretty stupid mistakes in my life but I have also had people who told me where I went wrong.  Some of the mistakes I have made are out of sheer ignorance.  Some are made out of failing to read the rules as it were only to find out later of the screw up I made.  Talk about red faced.  I have also seen, in my own experience, that no matter what warning you give, sometimes people are bound and determined to fuck up.  They don't care about the rules, the thought and dedication you put into them to help them save their skins and avoid death, and go blithely ahead with their own agenda.  Now we can;t take the blame where it is not due.  Sure we may have chosen someone for a position with the thought that they would do well only to be shamed when they see that said person has screwed up.  Not because we put them in a position where they could, but because they had it in their head to do their own thing their own way. 

Roundabout way of saying, you can blame yourself all you want, but in the end, who pulled the trigger?