What Did I Miss Along the Way?

The following letter has been sent by Clovis Watson to the editors of the various local newspapers and was submitted to us.

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What Did I Miss Along the Way?

Growing up in the housing projects in Alachua (Merrillwood), where shoes and three meals a day were not guaranteed. Mother worked cleaning houses and hotels; Father worked two full-time jobs. At the earliest possible opportunity, we moved from dependence to self-sufficiency.

For more than 30 years, I have continued to improve my life with hard work, drive and desire.

Now I am portrayed as a lackey and a fraud because of success and always doing the right thing.

What did I miss?

Spend more than 20 years in service to the City of Alachua, always with progressively more responsible duties, collecting awards and citations instead of complaints and charges.

But in four years, branded as a toady, an election thief and one who lines his pockets at the expense of the public.

What did I miss?

Guided the City during those four years from uncertainty, strife and fiscal chaos to our present efficient and fiscally sound position, with major corporations willing to shoulder an increasing percentage of the taxes.

But now I learn that this was only for my benefit, and done only because of my lifelong desire to ruin the City and the environment for the fun of it.

What did I miss?

Yes, my office is decorated with numerous awards and plaques of appreciation for the ceaseless work I have done on behalf of others, and I am justifiably proud.

But, now I learn from the press, the internet and the loose lips of my detractors that I am actually illiterate, can’t speak, live to step and fetch for the Man, and take 100% credit for the work of others while contributing zero.

What did I miss?

For every positive step I take, there are dozens of feet willing to trip me—the ALA, the Green Party, NUBA, the lunatic fringe of what was once a great party, individuals willing to prostitute the truth and their principles for political and monetary gain.

I spent my life achieving on my own efforts, not at the expense of others, as these people are doing.

What did I miss?

The answer to my own questions is: I missed NOTHING.

Those who are incapable of advancing their ideas through popular acceptance have taken the low and sinister road.

Those who will not recognize their rejection by the majority must necessarily find an excuse for their failure—anything other than themselves or their ideas must be at fault.

Character assassination, blatant lies, sly and damaging innuendo, volume over substance—these are all the tools of the ineffectual loser, and you can see it on display in many venues.

--“Unbiased” news stories presenting one side of the news with as much distortion and conjecture as hard facts.

--Anonymous posters and bloggers, lashing out in puerile anger from the fetid, dark dens they favor over
the light of day.

--Self-serving, megalomaniacal political candidates who stake their future on the wanton destruction of
everything positive, for they have scant offerings themselves.

--Activists who arrogate to themselves the mantle of truth and infallibility, while slipping a stiletto between the
ribs of the groups they profess to champion.

So many more that the mind numbs with exhaustion in an attempt to discern a logic to their actions where there is none.

Not a shred of decency or compassion can be seen in their words and their deeds. Because the self-anointed “saviors” have such “purity” in their vision, they have decreed that the mundane strictures of law, civility and ethics must not apply to them, lest it fetter them in their holy quest.

Preposterous!

In their actions;

In their words;

In their assumptions;

In the very way they treat us, the normal people.

Preposterous!

We, who do not share their lofty, elitist plane, will, as always, rely on the common sense of the majority and the force of the law.

Both of which will be coming into play much sooner than they want or expect.

No, I don’t think I missed a thing.

Submitted by Clovis Watson