Wednesday, June 07, 2006

A lesson learned

I never could understand why the big blogs required "memberships" in order to post to their blogs but I'm sure they learned through experience, just as I have this week, what works and doesn't work in Blog-land.

My purpose in posting Lisa's resignation letter was to give people a chance to thank her for all she has done for the Democrats in Seminole County and how much she would be missed. Little did I know that the kind of dialogue would erupt and it has been a good learning experience for me. If I have caused any problems for the DEC, I offer my sincere apologies, and assure you it was not my intention at all.

I would like to say how much I admire the people in the DEC: Lisa, Carol and Ed, Rich and Carol, Sy and Shari, Vic, Heidi and George, Tony, Lee, Vic, Bob, Paul, Sid, Marianne and Enoc, etc, and the list can go on and on. I have so much respect for each of you. You have been my inspiration to stay involved and I am sad to see us fight this way.

I decided to end this discussion when someone created an account with my name and posted comments using my name and pretended to be me. Clever one, I must say, I had not thought of that one.

You all are the most wonderful people I have ever known and you have all worked so hard for the Democratic Party. Each of you deserves credit for the huge gains we have made in the last several years. Each of you have added to the overall success of our organization. Each of you deserves much better than this. You have given your time and energy selflessly to our cause.

Our party is struggling right now. We are trying to define what our message should be and how to proceed in this next election. Who knows what's right or wrong. Time will tell. Perhaps DEMSLINK needs to add a module that is a forum where tough issues can can be discussed ( like the ones that were raised over the last week).

I do not just support Carol, I also support each of you. You are strong leaders and have given so much to make the SC-DEC. I thank you for your participation over the last week and I hope you can see why blogging is important to participatory government.

We all have stengths and weaknesses. We all can not be good at everything. But we can weave together our various talents and abilities and come up with something unique. That is, if we decide to pull in the same direction. Maybe that is asking too much, I don't know. Time will tell.

When criticism starts to get you down, remember Bill and Hillary Clinton and what they went through. When they were hounded relentlessly by critics and all seemed lost, they would smile and keep fighting for what they believed in, regardless of their critics. I hope you can be as gracious as they were in the face of their critics. It goes with the territory. No one is going to love you all of the time. Someone is always going to criticize you about something when you are active in politic life. It goes with the territory. But just like the Senate and Congress do after they fight a long battle, they shake hands and go out for a drink aftewards. I hope that we can be as gracious to our critics as our leaders do every day. and continue moving forward.

No comments: