What Might Have Been...

It always seems like the wrong way to do things but a good confrontation was needed. Setting the record or someone straight has always been a precarious situation at its best and down right bloody at its worst. The confrontation was inevitable and finally came to be this past weekend, with my last official act.

Over the years I have been in many clubs and organization but none compare to the years that I spent with this one. I started as a normal member and had fun. I gained respect from many in the club and soon became a member of leadership and as soon as I got comfortable, politics ripped it apart. In the ensuing turmoil a core group put things back in order and I moved on with the club and it was fun. Then I became the top dog and it was still fun and after serving in that capacity for to long it was not as fun but fun none the less.

After watching from the sidelines for a few years, I saw politics raise it ugly head again and again and saw personal feelings get in the way of good leaders and the membership. When the politics started blaming people in the club for things that went wrong, I stepped further into the background in hopes of having fun again. Fun was had at a price, a price I personally was not willing to pay. You see the finger of blame was pointed in my direction.

I pride myself on my integrity and my reputation as a straight up guy and someone had balls big enough or brains small enough to step on that reputation without checking his or her facts. Rumors are like shit flies, they emanate from where it stinks the most. The facts spoke for themselves and my reputation withstood the onslaught of finger pointing and the constant wah wah wah. Apologies were made but never from the finger pointer.

Since that time the assault on my reputation and honesty has been endless, for reasons I can only chalk up to penis envy or paranoid behavior that should be treated with medication. The last straw came when the same source of the previous rumors stated to several people, inside the club as well as several outside the club, that a few of the members with me as the leader were going to take the club over and throw out the leaders and some of the membership.

At times in this hobby we see a car or truck in the woods that is so far gone that its not worth saving, as is the case here. The club had reached its pinnacle years ago and that was history. No matter what any of the leaders from the past, present or future do now or plan to do the club will be what it is and no more, it will never be what it was.

With very little effort, personal debts within the club have been settled and words were spoken in the most diplomatic way possible yet some members that were there still didn't get it. When asked why and who, the questioners were answered truthfully and bluntly. Some were saddened and some were surprised by my decision to leave and others were actually clueless.

The source of the rumors and accusation quickly left at the end of the meeting so that the anticipated bloodletting never came to be. But he knows that thin ice is now synonymous with his standing with me and probably most of the other members in attendance.

My last official act? Dropping my pants...