Danny ChaiI don’t want to get too much into a pissing match about what was and wasn’t Jimmy’s fault. Like I wrote, I think he consistently did what he think was best so I don’t blame him for any of that. To answer Dave’s question about what I wanted him to do, the only thing I faulted him for in my entry was his impossible constraint in regards to small group member distribution. I thought it was wrong at the time and still do.
In general though, I think Dave misinterprets Jimmy and FiCS’s past, as I’ve written before. I want to emphasize that this is just my opinion, my view versus Dave’s, and the truth is likely neither. But yeah, the biggest misperception I think is that Dave frequently sees things as being “things happen, and then Jimmy dealt with that best he could.” In my eyes, Jimmy created those situations.
Dave thought: FiCS grew too big too fast – not Jimmy’s fault. I thought: FiCS got so big precisely because of Jimmy.
Dave thought: Jimmy’s solution to the situation of FiCS getting too big too fast was getting our class to serve early (which wasn’t necessarily the best idea). I thought: Jimmy got us to serve early before FiCS got big. Every single one of us (including Jane, Karine) were placed in committees before our sophomore year began – the rest were made soph reps. And that definitely was not a good idea.
Dave thinks: Jimmy was given a specific responsibility (frosh ministry) and did everything to the best of his ability. I think: It’s not that Jimmy was given a responsibility, it’s that he took it, as he did the previous two years. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s not like that’s the way it had to be or that it was best. Someone else could have done frosh ministry. We could have had some training/support for our class, both that year and the year before. Lots of things could have happened. But whatever, that’s not saying it would have been better. I’m just saying that Jimmy made it that way, it’s not something that happened to him.
Again, I’m not slamming Jimmy. I’m just saying that it’s not like stuff happened and so Jimmy reacted to rectify/remedy. Jimmy created those situations. I don’t think I’m overstating it. A huge part of everything that happened in FiCS those first few years was because of Jimmy.
And that includes both good and bad. If, in retrospect, something that Jimmy did turned out to be suboptimal, he also deserves the lion’s share of credit for everything good that did happen. Without question. So if FiCS was a very special place for George, he should directly address a note of thanks to Jimmy for that. All of us should.
I need to thank him for meeting my wife. Uh, but maybe I should steer clear of those treacherous waters.