Derrivan stays on the deck

This morning I read with interest a post my sister Sarah wrote on her blog, seagardensandglass, and here it is, in its entirety:

Lies have become so commonplace. Or maybe they always were, but they didn't used to annoy me so much. I am an honest person, a frank person, perhaps too much so. I used to think—-a little ego here—-that honesty was one of those hallmarks of a sterling character.

I confessed to a friend last night that the three things that seem to define me in more and more situations now are that I'm fat, I'm gray, and I'm honest. Her response was that all three are really within my control.

Hmm.

What qualities do you want in a government official; someone who represents you?

I had an interesting discussion with Larry Giunta, author of the Newburyport's Voice blog, at Cafe di Sienna the other day.

One of the many things we talked about was elected officials and how they are really supposed to represent the wishes of the people who elected them (as opposed to what they believe is the best way to go).

Perhaps people elect someone because they believe they will do what his/her constituents want them to do or perhaps they elect a person because they believe the person is smarter than they are and will do the right thing.

Whatever the case, I want to say here that I have always found Brian Derrivan to be like my sister - maybe a little too frank sometimes, a little volatile in some situations (in my sister's case, it's a family trait) but most of all honest.

I have seen what I believe is Derrivan's actual struggle to do what the administration expects of him and what he thinks is right. Good grief - the man goes into the landfill neighborhood and puts his own health at risk by sitting outside people's homes with them.

And Larry Giunta, who is one of his constitutents, said he likes him as well.

I'm not saying this under duress, or because Derrivan asked me to, or anything like that - although I have been worried a bit that my tongue-in-cheek comment about him weaving a good story could be taken by someone who is not familiar with my style as me saying he was lying.

Nothing could be further from the truth. If he was that good at making up a story like that right off the top of his head, I would be recommending he consider a career in writing fiction ...