Today things are very different. If you want a quotation, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, or Harry Truman probably said it. If you want to look for an example of someone who saw "right" and did just that, Truman is the textbook example. The group "Chicago" even found a way in post-Watergate 1975 to plead with Harry to come home.
So what does HST have to do with the Morrisville schools? Two words: Sandy Gibson
Here is a woman who was elected initially as a NSN, along with Angry Al et al four years ago, and was ready to change the school board. But a funny thing happened along the way. She took a look at the evidence. And because she is a thoughtful and analytical person, the new evidence got her thinking. First mistake: thinking and considering.
In a world where "flip-flopping" is a national disgrace and consideration of an item later on with new information and rational thought is labeled as failure, Sandy truly is a flip-flopping failure. But only mindless Republibot-like apologists actually believe that. And maybe die-hard NSN supporters too.
So she went with her amended convictions. There was her second mistake: Action. But be comforted by the words of that noted shrinking violet, Theodore Roosevelt
"...the man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic-the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done." (1891)
Leadership is an art form. It has been likened to working with cooked spaghetti: You can only push it, not pull it, because pulling will break it. Did she make some mistakes in the way she handled the school board. She certainly did. So did a lot of other board members. So do a lot of other living, breathing humans. Teddy mentioned that as well
"The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything."
So now, all of those who find it easier to criticize proposed solutions to tough problems than to offer up solutions of their own for criticism are now lining up to give Sandy one more uninformed swift kick before her departure. Let's be happy for Sandy...it's her Independence Day from Angry Al, Ducky, and the rest of the No Sports League. Now they can all line up and gossip about the house she's selling, and why she's leaving town, and how she's just like (insert name of other excoriated ex-Morrisvillian who diasgreed with the NSN's - Ken Junkins comes to mind), she moved into town just long enough to mess things up, then left town with us holding the bag.
What it comes down to is that a very talented, articulate, and dedicated, person gave her all for the children of Morrisville, and we are losing a valuable public servant. She is not the first board member to have received threats against herself and her family. I hope that she is the last.
And what of the NSNs? Our second president, John Adams had a thought about that...
On March 4, 1797, America's first orderly transferal of power occurred in Philadelphia when George Washington stepped down and John Adams took the oath as the second president of the United States. Many spectators were moved to tears during this emotional affair, not only because Washington's departure brought an era to a close, but because the ceremony represented a triumph for the republic. ...He also noted Washington's joy at surrendering the burdens of the presidency. In fact, Adams believed that Washington's countenance seemed to say: "Ay! I am fairly out and you fairly in! See which of us will be the happiest."
