Proposed Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area

     Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often, but every once in awhile I turn into a blithering idiot.  Invariably it happens in public when all eyes are upon me.  Long ago I learned that the floor won’t open up and swallow me; there is no way out.  I just have to get through it – it and the aftermath.
     My latest attack occurred just the other night at a well-attended meeting about the proposed National Heritage Area in our Columbia-Pacific Region.  A feasibility study for this proposal has been developed and is being made ready for presentation to Congress.  In preparation, public testimony is being solicited and I wanted to speak my piece.  Many community movers and shakers were there, some ready to read prepared statements, some who planned to extemporaneously express their beliefs, and many who just wanted to listen.  I fell into the middle category.
     To insure that every speaker had an opportunity at the microphone, each of us was allowed three minutes.  Several people gave up their time allotment to a friend who then had six minutes.  People’s remarks, whether pro or con, were impressive.  By the time my name was called (we’d had to indicate we wanted to speak before the meeting began), I had heard so many points of view that I was feeling a bit muzzy-headed.  And when I opened my mouth to speak, lo and behold, the blithering idiot syndrome had risen to the surface.  I hemmed and hawed.  I repeated myself.  I was at a loss for words.  I ran out of time. 
     Afterwards, as people gathered in chummy groups to talk about the meeting and next steps, I found that I was all by myself. Well, Nyel was there, but not a word about my ‘performance’ did he utter.  Ah, the familiar feeling of the dreaded aftermath… Like the blithering idiot syndrome itself, this was a familiar feeling.  It, too, would pass but would lurk beneath the surface ready to appear with the next attack.
    And worst of all, I’m not at all sure that I said, “I am unequivocally in favor of the Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area!”