May You Live In Interesting Times

That we do. Like it or not, good or bad we live in interesting times.

A major American City was quite nearly destroyed a couple of weeks ago. That only happens every century or so. But that was overshadowed by an even rarer occurrence: George W. Bush admitted responsibility as President.

Have you seen the video of his...well...apology? You must! Go to that blue link and scroll down 'til you see the President in front of a podium looking uncomfortable.

Before talking specifics, first an aside about apologies. There are many kinds.
1. I only hit you honey, because you made me mad.
2. I know I shouldn't hit you, but you shouldn't make me mad.
3. There's no excuse whatsoever for what I did. I'll seek counseling and pray you'll give me a
second chance.

As you can tell from the above, apologies come in many varieties, and they all contain different levels of guilt acknowledgement. In ascending order, the guilty party above rests no guilt, a little bit of guilt, and total guilt on his shoulders.

The Bush apology resides in the midling ground, in my not-too-humble opinion. Here's the apology transcribed:
"Katrina uh...exposed...(long sigh) serious problems in our response capability in all levels of government. And...to the extent that the Federal Government...uh...didn't fully do its job right...I take responsibility."

The President was about as uncomfortable as I've seen him, especially at the beginning of his so-called apology. He seemed to physically struggle to actually get the words to come out. Just before he says "And...to the extent that the Federal Government..." his hand gesture and dipping of his head are what I take to be distancing gestures. I think the truer nature of his feelings came out briefly there.

Then he switches into 3rd person briefly with "didn't fully do its job right..." which suggests that it's the Federal Government that didn't do its job right, not him. He does end it with "I take responsibility." Time will tell if he does, but judging by his apology, which has all the visual trappings of an 8 year-old boy's insincere apology, I'm not exactly filled with a sense of hope.

Couple of quotes:

"...to the extent that the Federal Government...uh...didn't fully do its job right...I take responsibility."

"The buck stops here."

Which of those two is more direct, more responsible sounding, and more sincere? In reading the two quotes do you believe one and doubt the other?

To close out here, I'll end somewhat ridiculously with a quote I came across in researching the title of this piece "May You Live in Interesting Times." It's an old Chinese quote that has no applicability other than it amuses me. Hope it amuses you, too.

"It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time that be a man in a chaotic period."