A letter to Jo!

OK, now today is the last lesson in my series and I want to change thing up a little bit and perhaps see what it might look like if the shoe was on the other foot, and Pat had a chance to voice Pats opinion if Pat didn't have to be afraid of the position of Jo, in being Pats boss, and using Jo's intimidation to never get Pat true feelings out! Now it is Pats day in Eriks words to come clean and any relation to persons living or dead is strictly coincidence!

Dear Jo,

Well, the time has come for me to spread my wings and fly. I have learned a lot from my experiences in my time here. I have learned the way I want to be, and the way I don't want to be! I have learned that being inside the wall has been very concealing, but mostly now as I am outside the wall I have seen things from a different point of view that I realized I'm glad I don't have to be the person I had turned into anymore. I am proud of my accomplishments, and I believe I made my company better by my performance in my time there! I wish you could be proud of my accomplishments, as my successes made you look good as well! Recently, all I could ever get was how bad I was, and how the decisions I was making both personal, and work related were not the way they were suppose to be! You have your life, I have mine, and we all live how WE want to, and not according to how somebody else thinks you should go about acting as a human! As you have told me in the past, you concentrate more on yourself for your career, and that is your decision. I realize that work is only a means to an end! What does end mean? In this case you only ever work to make $, and accomplish power, and success, or else you would probably own your own company, or at least understand others points of view on success! In leaving this company, I have created another success. I have become independant of YOU! Independant on knowing that I don't have to make decisions on your behalf. For your benefit, when I really question if it is what I wanted to do or not. And I don't have to be afraid of failing in your eyes. I realize you think that everything I ever accomplished was because of you, and I look at it from a different point of view! I believe you accomplished a lot from the performance of ME! Have you ever thought about your employees that way? Given them credit for YOUR success! Because, I sure only heard about how crappy I was when it made you look bad! And regarding my last promotion, was it really necessary for you to rub it in as to if I should not have gotten that position? YOU put me in that role, as I didn't ask for it, and if I had continued there and toed the company line and not been true to myself, and my family, and succeeded you would have looked good also, but because I did not dedicate myself to YOU, and YOUR cause it was a mistake! Well, I don't see it as a mistake, because I could have more than succeeded in that position, and made OUR company look even better than it did in its heyday! I also believe that our mission we decided on a couple years ago is non existent. But you can keep telling yourself that it does exist, but that doesn't mean it does! Take a look around, but you have to look in the mirror and see if you are upholding your end! If I am a failure in your eyes then that means YOU are a failure in every ones eyes! And that is what I see that makes you mad! But I will ask, did you have to make it so personal, and vindictive! Did you have to treat me like I was some outcast that betrayed you! I did nothing personal to you, and never had any ill will toward you, you chose to give me that feeling! In fact, once it got personal and mean, was it going to get any better if I had nodded my head yes from then on? No, it would have made me a fake! I only wish you would have respected my decisions, and been happy for me! I have dedicated so much of my life to YOU and YOUR CAUSE, oftentimes affecting my life outside of work to please YOU, and in the end it was all for the worst! The biggest thing is that the things you tell me in person are not the things you convey to everybody else. And everybody else can't understand why I feel the way I do! Because they are given a different spin on the outcome! Do you realize how much that affects the rest of my life! I had friends that I now do not have because they have turned on me! How can they have turned on me when I have NEVER said a word to them since I left! They are getting their info. from someone! Unless they only have tunnel vision, and only see the JO point of view! I have put in a lot of time furthering the cause of our company, and all I get in return is a good swift kick out the door! Nice! I get not a well wish from ANYBODY but family. Yes, I could have done things differently in the whole process, but WHERE WERE YOU TO SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE ME? WHY DO I HAVE TO COME TO YOU TO ASK FOR HELP? IF I WAS DROWNING WHERE WERE YOU TO EVEN KNOW I WAS? All you cared about was your point of view, and I asked for help in a lot of ways, but you did not hear it because it wasn't your problem! Well, it became your problem in the end, and then what, it was my fault, because I never asked for help! BULLCRAP!!!!! Open your eyes, and ears, and hear what EVERYONE else has to say! Life is not about JO! Yes, I have been selfish at times in my position, and have not seen the best interest of people for who they are, but if that is a fault of mine, remember, I learned my job from YOU, and ALL my faults in that area are something that we have in common! The difference is I realize now that I am not really like that, and I cannot support or encourage the treatment of people like that! That is not me, and I have to change! If that is a bad thing, well, I guess I am wrong. Could it be that you will have less people to conspire with and have your opinions of things? Probably, but they will realize sometime they will have to step out of your shadow, and live on their own, and that will leave you with less! Even though you are not the leader of the company, many on the outside see you as the controller! You might like that, but from the outside the picture isn't so pretty! Remember, if you think I am writing this out of spite, I had EVERYTHING to LOSE by resigning, and NOTHING to gain! You are still there in all your "Glory" and I am not! You come out ahead in employment! I come out ahead in life! I think, and now I know I made the right choice! Do you ever wonder why so many people leave our company in a bad way? Why they are so mad? I know now, and it is not pretty! Not everyone is innocent, but there are plenty that are not here that had only the best intentions! Just not yours! I will leave you with this! In the end we leave a legacy! Everyone does! Good or bad! You have the power and opportunity to make a REAL difference, but what YOU do with it is up to you! You will not be judged by YOUR SUCCESS, but the SUCCESS of others you played the part in. If you made someone else succesful, than you are a success!
I wish you nothing but good things, and hope you can understand my point of view and be happy for that, and even though you might tell other people that, you have never conveyed that to me! I'm sorry I let you down, but I believe I chose the right path, and am happy!

Sincerely,
Pat (Written, concieved, and portrayed by Erik )

Wow, riveting stuff! I guess there was a lot more going on at their company than I had realized, and I hope this opens some eyes as to how things are sometimes! Things aren't always as they seem! And you have to be careful who you align yourself with, and make sure it is the right person! Well, in my humble opinion, I would call on Jo to resign! Somebody like that can't be healthy for the good of any company can they? If I'm Jo I am glad we don't have any real life situations like this, because it would really suck to have to work in that type of environment! If there is a Jo out there, that seems to me to be the right thing to do! I just hope all people can learn from my class and take the info. and make it for the better of everybody! I believe I even learned a lot by making up these stories, and doing the research on these meanings! Remember, you might think I am crazy, or weird for writing these lessons, but you really can't go wrong if you do gain even most of these qualities! I feel better now myself! Tune in tommorrow for the fresh new start!
Well, the week long sandstorm is gone, and you can see the sun now, so I had better go sweep!
Peace!
Later,
Erik