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The Six Official Steps In A Project

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1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the guilty
5. Blame the innocent
6. Reward the uninvolved

A Word or Two on Politics

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And, just a final word to the wise...

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In all levels of politics, there is a reverse intensifier that is always worth remembering: the smaller the arena, the harsher the poltics. On the largest and global arena, more often than not, things are poised as high-minded and positive. "Let the word go forth..." "Lend me your ears..." "We have nothing to fear but fear itself..." These are the sort of things we hear from great world leaders.

But, as the arenas grow smaller, the self-serving rhetoric intensifies, along with interpersonal brutality. And, in the smallest ring, where the participants are face to face, belly to belly, it is always the most vicious. Local politics, which all politics may ultimately be, it is definitely a blood sport. Sad to say. And no one gets out unscathed and unscarred. So, for all interested parties, mark this: you should be prepared for the worst when you go into politics. As the poet said:

I to my perils
Of cheat and charmer
Came clad in amour
By stars benign;

Hope lies to mortals
And most believer her,
But man's deceiver
Was never mine.

The thoughts of others
Were light and fleeting,
Of lovers' meeting
Of luck or fame;

Mine were of trouble
And mine were steady,
So I was ready
When trouble came.

-- A.E. Housman