At least now people can't accuse you of being a cult leader with everyone here under your sway. I'm certainly not.

In the end we're all just human beings who did what we thought was right, whatever that happens to be. I wanted the money to be used in the spirit of Alice Day (to help kids) without anyone making a big deal over it, and without giving the antis reason to cause trouble as they already had with StC. If I'd told one person here where the money was going, I'd have had to tell everyone, and once that happened there'd have been no gaurantees it would've remained in the realm of anonymity. Was it my place to do that? Probably not, but I finally decided, for a number of reasons, that in this case the ends justified the means.

I respect your rejection of my decision, and I'm glad you don't hate me because of it. I hope that, with time, you will gain some perspective and come to see my reasons for what I did, even if you still don't agree with them. Meantime, I can live with your disappointment over my actions, as long as you recognize that I made this decision for what I feel were sound reasons.

The reasons I did not include you in my decision are two-fold: One, because it appeared to me at the time that you had intentions which were not entirely within the spirit of Alice Day (as I understand it,) and two, I wanted to make it very clear to everyone here that I am not a mindless chimp who would risk his neck for this community for nothing more than a few pats on the head. As far as I'm concerned, I more than earned the right to do what I did, not simply because my conscience was bugging me over the self-aggrandizement, but also because I have risked a great deal for this community, not to mention invested much time and energy into it, and I've gotten very little in return for my troubles. I felt that, in light of that and in light of the fact that this money was needed NOW, without us and/or the antis playing games over the matter, I was doing what was in the best interest of all concerned.

I see myself as a sailor on board a ship with a captain who was making a a very bad decision, and possibly a dangerous one, not just to me but to the community, to children (because I can well imagine laws being passed to outlaw pedos from making public donations), and to the spirit of what this community represents, or SHOULD represent anyway. I decided a mutiny was required to steer the monies and the community back on course. I was in a unique position to make that happen, and I did so.