Hello all, There is a question at the end. This is a longish story. Please read it, you'll get the point. ====================================== Once upon a time there was this group of people that wanted to go somewhere very far away. Not all of them knew exactly where they wanted to go, they just wanted to go there. A bunch of them got together and decided that they could get there by building a railroad. They started to experiment by building a local trolley line. The trolley worked well within their town and it was a definite benefit. They began to experiment with different guages of track, locomotives, and cars. In the process, one individual started to rise to a fairly strong position of preemmenence. This person loved driving trains and soon became the most trusted engineer in the effort. Note that he didn't design the trains, he only drove them. It got so that this person started suggesting directions in which to build the tracks. No one really objected because they really didn't know where they wanted to go anyway. These people were very industrious and they built their tracks everywhere. As they built track into an area new people became involved in the effort. The more track they laid, the more people became involved. Everyone involved was doing it because it was fun and everyone enjoyed traveling everywhere. There came the day that the system had developed the technology to build a really long track, complete with a train that could ride on it all the way. It was a strong and fast train, a beauty. It was very long and had many varieties of cars. It had freight cars, dining cars, sleeper cars, private cars, and every other conceivable kind of car. The track was laid to connect all the towns that were discovered and all the places that the most trusted engineer found interesting. The only problem was that the engineer only wanted to drive the train to places he was interested in going. It wasn't a severe problem because it was usually to places most everyone else wanted to go anyway. This is why he was the most trusted engineer in the first place. However, this project was taking more and more resources. Moreover, many were discovering that this same system could move freight very easily. It was actually starting to show some serious benefit and some of them started using the railroad for commerce. NO, No, no, said the original people, this system is for fun and travel, so that we can enjoy ourselves. It is purely for our pleasure. There was a lot of debate. The newer people had also invested a great deal of time in the railroad. In addition, the freight business was starting to really pay off. They didn't see anything wrong with the dual-use of the railroad for both business and pleasure. The debates went on and on ... In the meanwhile, the most trusted engineer, who hadn't really been paying attention to the debates, continued to drive his trains and suggest new direction to build tracks. He loved to go to some of the most inaccessable areas and he loved driving his train there. As always he followed his own guidance and kept his own council. But, the system had gotten so big that there really weren't enough trains to go to all the different places people wanted to go. There were only 240 different trains. Three or four of them had gotten really big and were overloading the tracks. Their size made them extremely unwieldy, almost dangerous. A group of people started saying that more different trains were needed, along with more engineers to drive them. Some of them were specialized trains to carry frieght and commerce. There was even a call for specialized trains, on special tracks, with regular schedules. The most trusted engineer was completely oblivious to these debates until a group came to him with a special proposition to help design these new trains and train the engineers. He began the work but the original people objected. They said, "Sure we'll let this be done, but only on our terms." The most trusted engineer knew these people for a long time and agreed to that. He let them talk him into setting up a council that would continue to run the railroad exactly has he was running it then and in the same manner. They talked him out of allowing the new trains, or the new track. "We'll just make the existing trains larger" was the answer. After all, no one could concievably want to go more than 240 different directions at once and the current track is good enough. The Mayor, of the original town, who had been the focal-point of many complaints of the great debate, meanwhile decided to privatize the railroad, so that he could get some peaceful sleep. You see, both sides of the debate were calling him up at all hours of the day and night and he was fed up with it. The original people reacted with great jubilation, they got the most trusted engineer to convene a special council, taking over the previous council, and incorporate the railroad, to their own design, completely leaving the commerce people out of the discussions. The commerce people were understandably upset at this and formed their own group. They petitioned the Mayor, who had thought himself finally clear of this, and complained about the state of affairs. The Mayor hadn't intended for this to happen and he stopped it. He said "You will have to come to term with each other and run this railroad by consensus. Neither one of you can ignore the other, you will have to discuss this amicably. In the meantime, I want out of it." The commerce people, began to meet in order to decide what to do. The original people were included and there was a great discussion. However, the most trusted engineer continued to hold his own private council, in concert with the original people. He had his own summit conferences and his own agenda. The original people also had thier own spies, in high places, in the commerce people's committees. The commerce people were aware of this, but they too trusted the most trusted engineer. Just before the dead-line, placed by the Mayor for resolution, the most trusted engineer announced an entire new organization incorporated to run the rairoad. All input from the commerce people were ignored and the most trusted engineer was going to run the whole railroad, just as he had been doing. The commerce people had their own proposal, but did not have the support of the most trusted engineer. The Mayor, although he knew it wasn't fair, had almost no choice, since he was not about to leave the railroad in the hands of someone that the most trusted engineeer did not support. Then the unthinkable happened. The most trusted engineer died. Everyone was sad. However, what was left in place was his private council. They knew nothing about running a railroad, because they were depending on the most trusted engineer to tell them how. They were also used to not listening to anyone other than the original people, as that was who had put them into power in the first place. They had no allegiance to the commerce people and didn't feel that they had to listen to them. The commerce people didn't really want to run the railroad. They were all busy with commerce. The original people wanted to run the railroad, but many of them didn't even want to allow commerce, let alone accept input from those evil commerce people. The Mayor again said, "NO! That is not what I intended. But, in the interests of expediency, and the commerce people's lack of willingness to run the railroad, I will let the original people run it, but they must listen to the commerce people in an open manner." Of course, other than a slight show, they didn't, they had no reason to. After all, what were the commerce people going to do, take over? They had already set things up so there was no profit, or revenue stream. The commerce people had no incentive to run the railroad the way it was structured. The commerce people were very glum and depressed over this state of affairs. No new trains were going to get built, no special track was going to get laid, and no regular scheduled runs were going to be emplaced. The only other choice they had was to build an entirely new railroad from scratch. It was just too large a job. It appears that the original people had won and commerce was going to be restricted, if not eliminated as something evil. Before the initial contract was awarded from the Mayor's office, there was one final chance for the commerce people to lodge a protest. However, they would have to commit to actually running the railroad. The question is, can they commit? Once the contract is awarded, the original people have no reason to listen to those evil commerce people ever again. ====================================== ___________________________________________________ Roeland M.J. Meyer - e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet phone: hawk.lvrmr.mhsc.com Personal web pages: http://staff.mhsc.com/~rmeyer Company web-site: http://www.mhsc.com ___________________________________________________ KISS ... gotta love it! __________________________________________________ To receive the digest version instead, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNSUBSCRIBE, forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Problems/suggestions regarding this list? Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___END____________________________________________
