In an ESPN interview at Texas Motor Speedway September 21, 2008, drag racer John Force commenting about his upcoming first round race with competitor Cruz Pedregon. John said: “Cruz is a great competitor and on his game, he’s got a great hotrod, but I’ve got a great hotrod too, so it will be up to me. My legs are fixed [damaged from a terrific accident at the same speedway the year before], no more excuses. I’m going to give it all I have and if Cruz beats me then I just get whooped. But Cruzer, we’re gonna dance today! He will try to beat me and I will try to beat him…that is what we do.” As it turned out, John did beat Cruz that first round by 7/100ths of a second, only to meet up with his daughter, Ashley in round two. Ashley beat her dad off the line but disqualified by crossing the centerline, allowing John to go on to the third round. Tim Wilkerson beat John in round three and then Cruz’s brother Tony in the finals. So, what’s the point you say…what…you don’t care about drag racing? The point is this: We [the world] are dying in a state of “no responsibility” and the idiotic blame game! Just as spoiled children, if you don’t have what you want, you whine about it. You blame others for your situation, or blame the dog that ate your homework, the teacher yelled at you, you don’t have a father, your sister hates you, and besides it is too windy and cold out there! Businesses complain about competition, saying we need regulations, and then they complain about government regulations. The mother blames the father, the father blames the mother, and the child blames whom ever is left standing. Families disintegrate, break up, and find themselves in even worse difficulty drowning in the quagmire of the multiple extended family. The automakers blame the UAW and the government, the UAW blames “unfair” foreign manufacturing, and the government says to marry the opposite extremes of increasing CAFE-standards & make safe vehicles at the same time. One minor failure and people cry foul; is there an Edison out there willing to fail 6,000 times for a new idea? Frivolous lawsuits “steal” money from insurance companies who say it is cheaper to pay off the bandits rather than fight them; meanwhile the businesses pay the higher insurance price and pass it along to consumers. Higher education institutions sit on massive endowment accounts, pay salaries for non-teaching tenured professors, and whine to bureaucrats for tuition hikes that shut people out of getting educations, thus adding to the dumbing-down of America. This is all insane and it cannot be sustained…America will break. I pray for a return to honesty, the kind of integrity exhibited by John Force. After his accident and learning how to walk all over again, he doesn’t blame anything on that fact. He has respect for his worthy competitor, and should he lose…he “just gets whooped”…plain and simple, no excuses. John doesn’t hold his performance to outside elements, his car, his crew, the environment, or the track conditions; no, he simply does his best within the conditions he finds himself, no excuses! He then chooses to thank everyone with grace and move on to the next race! Refreshing…absolutely refreshing! Can we not do the same? All you spoiled children, please grow up before it is too late! Haven Mankin The Muskrat’s Tail