Just when we think the EVIL SPIRITS have gone away for awhile, they come crashing back.
What evil spirits, you ask? Well, over the past few years we have had several individuals and organizations do everything humanly possible to thwart our progress.
I have no desire to expose these individuals and organizations or their motives in this treatise, at least not while I'm alive . . . but the book could easily end up a best seller.
For those of you old enough to remember Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street," or Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing in "Dallas," they both played the role of the Easter Bunny in comparison to some of the people with whom we have had to deal in the last five years.
These people, their motives and interesting views are part of the reason why this area has had so many challenges on its journey back from the flood of '77. Jealousy, power, greed, blind passion, disbelief in progress, or just the crying out of tortured souls trying to find ways to keep WMC and WRI from growing, prospering, and advancing.
We have had individuals interfere with our state grants. (They actually had them withdrawn during the former administration.) We have had individuals work tirelessly against us to have taxes imposed upon our not for profit organizations.
We have had individuals block the building of our new research center, work to freeze our federal grants, and come back at us again and again.
We have had problems with contractors, steel companies, window companies, and just a few weeks ago, there was an attempt by a very powerful Washington D.C. bureaucracy to freeze our grants, again. Thankfully, they were not successful.
Now, we are being told that they're coming back for another visit, those negative energy generating nay sayers who would have us languish or fail.
So, as I make two separate trips to Florida this week to deliver five speeches about the wondrous, phenomenal accomplishments at WMC and WRI, we deal minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day "in the weeds."
Now is the time to say . . . focus on the positive and good will prevail. We are moving ahead on all levels, and if one partner doesn't do what they promise, we'll get another, better partner. If one senior leader doesn't do what needs to be done, we'll get new leaders.
NOTHING WILL STOP THIS EFFORT. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Because all of our combined POSITIVE energy, commitment, and passion will ensure safe passage to the new frontier, to the new healthcare delivery system, to a better future.
Kick *:? Nick!
Posted by: Christina | Wednesday, March 01, 2006 at 12:26 PM