Confession of Something Stupid

Dear Evan,

For this part on leadership I am using a story which I like to call, Confession. Hope you enjoy.

“I just don’t know about that,” replied Brad as he leaned back in his chair. Cushions tied to the black, wrought iron were surprisingly soft and comfortable.

Janet motioned for the waitress. A college age brunette with a large lipstick smile, piercing blue eyes, and a name tag with Magenta engraved in bold letters across it came over in response. Brad watched the people walking on the wide sidewalk with his right arm resting on the waist high wooden fence separating the diners from the promenade.

“I would like a refill of lemonade, please,” requested Janet.

“Okay, and you sir?” asked the waitress turning her attention to Brad.

“Sure, I’ll have another, thank you.”

“Thank you and I’ll be right back with your drinks,” smiled the young lady as she turned and headed toward the door of the restaurant. A moment later she had disappeared from sight. Brad smiled a little as he amused himself thinking of it as an inter-dimensional portal.

“I don’t think I quite understand you.”

“How do you mean,” asked Brad.

“You are constantly going on about how our elected representatives need to be held accountable for their actions.”

“And I will always stand by that.”

There was a pause as the waitress who seemed to have suddenly appeared with their respective refills. With a smile she placed the drinks on the table among the dancing specks of light which had managed to breakthrough the leafy branches of the shady maple.

“Is there anything else I can get you right now?”

“I think we are good,” responded Janet with a friendly smile.

“Well if you need anything else just yell,” said the waitress returning the smile as she turned to check on others.

“I thought you would agree with Ben Carson’s comment, ‘We’ve been conditioned to think that only politicians can solve our problems. But at some point, maybe we will wake up and recognize that it was the politicians who created our problems.’”

Brad looked over toward the pedestrians as he took a sip of his cold drink. He seemed to be in deep thought.

Placing his drink back on the light dappled table top he replied as he used his napkin to dry the glass’s moisture from his fingertips, “I have to admit that there is some truth in the first part of his statement but the second part is just pure nonsense.”

“Now how can the first part have some truth while the second part is pure nonsense when they are in the same vein?” she asked in a calm tone of serious inquiry.

Shaking his head slightly as he sat up straight as he answered, “Yes, the first part can be true in that he states that people have been taught over time to be highly reliant on politicians. I do believe that there are many who see it as the total responsibility of the members of government to handle government things. This is true of many nations. People go about their day to day business while politicians whether elected or autocratic take care of policy and the nation. These same politicians also tend to dictate what the people’s day is like. However, this is America and we the people are the government.”

Nodding her head in understanding and agreement, “Okay, so I will go along with the idea that we have become far too dependent on politicians and I also believe that the politicians continue to do what they may to keep us so dependent. So, wouldn’t that make it the politicians’ fault?”

Brad breathed out through his nose as he watched the people walking. From years of experience Janet knew he was thinking of a good answer. She took a sip of her lemonade.

“I think this is just a blame game which Carson came up with to get the finger off of him. Remember he stated that he was not a politician. I think it was an attempt to help him stand out from the herd. It is just marketing.”

“I am still not following you. I mean I do understand about his need to separate from the rest to help him stand out and win elections. I get the whole idea of I’m not a politician and it is the fault of the politicians. I get that he wanted people to think of him as something different from all the rest. But I still don’t see how the politicians are not to blame.”

He took in a deep breath and started, “Perhaps this little story of a life changing event from my life will help to make my thoughts a little clearer.”

“I’m willing to give it a try.”

“I’ve told you of my cousin, Craig, and of my friend Clint.”

“Yes, you told me how you guys were a bit of hellions. You would wax or soap windows in your neighborhood, you would hang out in Pequea and swim at the marina, you would steal beer from boats, and you would smoke pot and get high. You would ride dirt bikes together. You worked on the local farms. Okay, so you worked and played hard.”

“There was one night when we went a bit further,” he said looking her in the eyes.

“Okay,” she responded a bit unnerved.

“There was this business nearby. We were hanging late one evening just being dumb and young guys. I think I was about fifteen. Craig started pulling on this door that felt a bit loose. He started yanking harder and harder and it came open to all of our surprise. Craig ran inside and Clint and I followed.”

“What were you doing inside?” she asked almost automatically.

“We started looking around for anything of value as in value to us. We were going to steal anything we could find.”

“Did you find anything?”

“No, something told us that something was wrong and decided to make our escape.”

“What tipped you off?” she asked keeping her eyes on Brad as she stole a sip of lemonade.

“A young girl named Donna had a crush on Craig. She was along with us. She also had her younger brother who was named Billy along. We were all in our teens. They had been sitting outside. I just happened to pass by the door we had come in and looked out at her just in time to see her jump up and start to run with Billy right behind her. I called out to Craig and Clint that we had to leave someone was coming. I exited the building and they were right behind me. At that moment I had no idea what had happened to Donna and her brother but the three of us made a bee’s line right for the nearby woods.”

“Must have set off a silent alarm?”

“No, someone had seen us and called the owner.”

“Did you get caught?”

“Not right away, we had managed to make a good get away. But they eventually caught up with us. In fact it was a couple of hours later. We found Donna and her brother. They had made it back to their house.”

“Where had they gone to get away?”

“Well, we would find out that they had run directly to their home in plain view of the person who had called the owner. Instead of a round the way trip which we had done to lose the pursuers, Donna and Billy had ran straight to their home and there we were, not knowing what Donna and Billy had done, sitting in their spare bedroom in the basement. Donna had let us in and we were hiding in her basement waiting for the coast to be clear.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“No it wasn’t. They didn’t have to run past the caller. The caller had recognized Donna’s jacket and had reported her to the owner in the initial phone call.”

“So what happened?”

“A cop showed up and Donna had had far too much and told what had happened and the cop knew we were in the basement. Billy came down and told us that the cop knew we were down there. So we reluctantly came up to Donna’s and Billy’s Parent’s living room and sat on the sofa. The cop started asking us what happened and we denied everything. We told him we had been playing barnyard football.”

“Barnyard football?”

“An impromptu game just for fun with no real rules, I’ll explain it sometime,” offered Brad. He then waved his hand in front of his face as to vanish those thoughts so he could continue, “Of course he didn’t buy any of it. He told us he was taking us to jail until we decided to tell him what had happened. He led us out of the home and towards his car. I saw Donna shaking like a leaf. She was really upset and scared. Craig, Clint, and I were completely composed but Donna was almost in a state of extreme distress. I whispered to Craig we need to let him know that Donna and her brother had nothing to do with this. Craig agreed. I just stopped and told the cop that Donna and Billy had nothing to do with this. We told him that it was just us three.”

“So did you spend the night in jail?”

“No, he ushered us back into the house and drilled us with questions and my parents showed up. The Cop asked us about other disturbances and small crimes in the area. We lied and told him we knew nothing about those. After about fifteen minutes my parents took me home. Evidently the owner wasn’t pressing charges.”

“Bet that was fun.”

“It wasn’t. My parents demanded to know what I was thinking. They also told me that I was to apologize to the business owner first thing in the morning and offer to work for him for two weeks for free. And, I did that. Craig and Clint, whose parents never found out joined me in getting the job done for the owner. We actually had a good time doing it. But this wasn’t the end of the story.”

“I was wondering what this has to do with forcing politicians to take responsibility for their actions and holding them accountable.”

“When my parents started grilling me for what had happened I told them the truth about it all except the part about looking for something of value to swipe. I told them instead that we had gone in to see what it was like.”

“Is that when they got the idea for you to work off your crime for free?” she asked with a knowing smile.

Nodding his head while maintaining eye contact, “Yes, they felt this way I could totally satisfy my curiosity. I wasn’t called on to help out until late summer. I ended up only working for a week because school started.”

“Okay, it’s a cute little tale. So what was this great life changing thing which happened that will clear up your ideas on politics for me?” she asked reaching for another sip.

He looked at Janet for a second and then continued, “When my parents were grilling me for answers one of their questions was whose idea was it. I told them the truth. We were at first just hanging out but it had been Craig who had decided to break in and I just followed. They both just quietly walked out of my room and left me alone.”

She just looked at him for a moment attempting to crack the cryptic message and then replied, “Hmm.”

“Thing is they were more upset about me allowing someone to lead me around like that than they were about the actual breaking and entry. They were upset about me allowing someone to have that much influence over me that I would do something so stupid. It hadn’t been Craig’s fault. I was the one who allowed him to lead me around. I just did it automatically. I could have said no or refused to have entered and had left like Donna and Billy but I allowed myself to be led to the slaughter that chilly fall evening so long ago in the distant past.”

She didn’t say a word and just thought as she took another sip. He had finally taken a sip of his beverage. They just sat there in silence as a cool zephyr made its way through the café and washed over them like a refreshing wave. Janet shivered a slightly as it flowed over her exposed skin.

“I would say that is one hell of a lesson to learn,” she stated breaking the silence, “Especially to learn it at such an age.”

“From that time I took full responsibility for my actions. I stopped letting people just tell me what to do or blindly followed them. I learned to question everything. I learned to point the finger at myself and take charge of my life. Sure, the politicians are doing this or that but it is us who are allowing them to do it. Just as Craig and Clint are responsible for their actions I did allow myself to be led into the same quagmire. I just leapt right off that cliff. If America is to survive and truly be America we need to realize that we are just as much responsible for what is going on as these politicians are. We are allowing them to do it and we are just going along with it. We need to hold them accountable and ourselves as well. We need to stop playing the victim and be Americans.”

“Good story and great lesson, cheers to challenging ourselves to step up to the plate and grow,” Janet toasted as she raised her glass. He smiled and reciprocated.

Hopefully this helps to clarify my thoughts on this,

Devlin Bronte Rachele