A Personal Letter of Thanks
As we reach the close of the long drama that has unfolded over nearly five years in our Plantation neighborhood, today I received several phone calls while settled in our new environs on Whidbey Island. Each caller asked me why I was so willing to stake my own credibility on a cause I must have known would ultimately be a very uphill battle.
For me, the choice was clear. For many of the intervenors (objectors) and the original 82 contributors to our cause, it was a genuine act of conscience. Business and personal relationships, sometimes extending over four or five decades, were “on the dock,” so to speak—yet people had the courage to proceed as they believed was right and honorable. The badges of honor should go to them.
I count myself richly blessed to have stood alongside such a courageous group, people who refused to accept at face value the promises of city officials and developers. Ironically, many among our original group were themselves former or current developers. Throughout the past few weeks, technical and legal details have swirled concerning our position and our standing before various parties. Soon, a single-page document will be made available to set the record straight for future reference.
In the meantime, I want to reflect on why we chose this path, even knowing the outcome would be at best a partial, mitigated victory. Below is a quote and a discussion from Theodore Roosevelt, explaining why he took on the “Establishment Republicans” and ran on the Bull Moose ticket for President—well aware it would end his prospects for another term and cost him many old friends in his party. These words, I believe, partially reflect our motives for opposing the Amendment to the Master Declaration Contract (MDC).
Roosevelt said:
“If a man does a thing that he sees clearly to be against his interest, if he accepts the burden, strain and benefit of a fight, at the end of which he sees discomfiture, defeat, and lasting disability, if he leads a forlorn hope, if he spends himself in an undertaking which almost certainly can yield him no reward, but rather will bring him harm, loss and disservice, how would you diagnose his motives?
Not waiting for a reply, the former President answered, ‘That his motives disregard his personal interests, that he is actuated by a compelling sense of duty; his conscience and his station require him to do so, irrespective of the cost or consequence to him.’”
In the end, Roosevelt never viewed morality as transactional. Morality and conscience stand above calculation and do not require tallying wins and losses.
Years later, he wrote to his son Kermit, signing off with the words:
“If a man does not have an ideal, and try to live by it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful.”
We had our ideals, and we proceeded honorably in support of our cause. My deepest thanks go again to all the intervenors (objectors) and to those who supported and contributed to our effort, seeking only a judicial declaration of every homeowner’s right of property. Every person in our neighborhood should feel the same pride and respect—regardless of their position on amending the Master Declaration Contract.
Hats off with the utmost respect, fidelity, and allegiance to all who stood for what they believed was right.
—John Morrow Livingston, MD