Fool Me Once...

I hate two things a great deal:

a) Being a hypocrite

b) Being wrong

In order to avoid the first, I try to practice what I preach as often as possible, and never consciously ask someone to do something I haven't done, or would never do, myself.

In order to avoid the second, I try to do my research and know what I'm talking about before I speak up - this includes putting my ego aside when someone knows more/better than me.

That being said, a little back story:

When Vancouver was bidding on the Olympics, I was right there cheering them on. I thought that the arguments about the money being better spent, for example, was short-sighted nonsense (still do) - in the words of a former YMCA C.E.O. (a non-profit organization), "...you need to spend money, to make money". BC needed an economic stimulus, and having lived in Calgary during the '88 Olympics, I saw front and center what effect they could have.

However, a friend of mine who had just moved out from Alberta gave me the first argument that actually gave me pause - he said that Alberta's Olympics were successful because the people of the province had long been lead by a government that basically took the attitude "You made your bed, you lie in it". BC, on the other hand, was used to an attitude of "What, you're in trouble? Just wait, I'll loan you money that isn't there to bail you out!". For this reason, he felt that the Olympics were destined for trouble in BC, because inevitably they would run into trouble, the government would bail them out, BC would relive the '76 Montreal Olympics and wind up paying off debt for 30 plus years. And while I did, indeed, pause at this, at the same time I thought "No, that would never happen".

I hate being wrong.

~Guy