Game On - All Candidates Mtg#1 - Post Mortem

Good - I made a big mistake early.  I wont be wondering when now.   I can only hope thats the worst of it .

I felt fine with the introduction speech I did and the "Low Barrier" question was right in my hitting zone.  It was at Intermission that I got the body blow.  A neatly dressed senior gentleman came up to the stage and called me over.  I got no name, no handshake - I received a terse piece of his mind, absolutely deservedly so.  I had failed to wear a poppy.  The gentleman was gone in a heartbeat, there was no explaining to him or to many others that I knew would have noticed.  This is one of those things that I might not win many votes for but could lose tons by neglecting, by disrespecting.  I immediately got a poppy and made a decision to change my final speech to acknowledge this brave gentleman and the war effort & sacrifice so worthy of a share of the passion this night.

I spoke of my dad fighting in Italy, having been given a battlefield promotion when his group leader had a breakdown, about my dad having been wounded and sent home.  It was too little, too late but I needed to do something.  I made a mess of finishing the speech with conviction & purpose.  I'm sure it sounded like an excuse for being late.

I do want to share some of me here, now.  I have been miserable to live with and work for because I am so anal about cleaning up mess.  I made a mess last night and I simply could not go on with out at least trying to make it right.  I just prefer to keep going forward, to stay on track - even if that means slowing to a crawl while I pick up pieces of my mess.  Its just the way I am i guess, always have been, why put off doing what needs to be done, just get at it, make it better - deal with it.

I am trying to step up my game as a person and as a leader.  This sort of attention to detail is my responsibility.  I went too far & too fast yesterday.  I can be patient and keep up the quality of my work.  If I plan to become a journeyman politician, its the only way.

Look for something more from me on Remembrance Day Nov 11.  I was planning to do it anyways but this makes it for more people than just Mum.