Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Awakening:

Every avenue has been searched and has been met with a refusal by USSPEEDSKATING to clean up its act. What you have here is a sports organization that has effectively cannibalized itself. What you have here is a constituency that has been deeply wounded and continues to be betrayed by the leadership. What you have here is a leadership that turns its head to the side and refuses to look at the reeking pile of shit that they have created.

At this point, I see that there are three steps that USSPEEDSKATING must take if it is to survive:

1. Admit your mistakes.

2. Make amends for the past: Clean up what has been dirtied. Stitch together what you have ripped to shreds. Remove the sticky quicksand of the past and wipe your feet, or everything you try to do from now on will be contaminated.

3. Learn from your mistakes, and write up a new set of ethical guidelines AND BE CLEAR ABOUT HOW THESE RULES WILL BE ENFORCED. You must make your board members and employees accountable for their actions. It doesn't mean anything if you have a code of conduct that is not enforceable. If it cannot be enforced, then it does not work.

Justice and freedom must prevail for the skater. The performance, talent, and potential of the athlete are essential to our sport and must be raised above petty favoritism, moral depravity, and the maintenance of a delusional image of those in power. The stubborn attitude of the present leadership of USSPEEDSKATING must be overcome, or else this sport will surely become extinct.

The form of bullshit which I describe is not unique to the sport of speedskating. It can be found in any organization. The question you must ask yourself is, "What kind of organization do we want to be?"