Hi Tony. First let me say Merry Christmas to you and your family and good wishes for a happy, HEALTHY, and prosperous New Year. What I have to say here has no musical significance and is merely a difference of opinion on one specific issue. As you know, except for political affiliations, I'm usually in lockstep with you and always admired the conciliatory tone and practicality you bring to most discussions. It is in that spirit that I present an opposing point of view to your above quote.

For about ten years I was a volunteer counselor in a program called Thresholds that taught a course in decision making to inmates in county and state prisons. The program operated on the premise that most inmates were in their current situations as a result of poor decision making skills. That when in situations that could land them in trouble, they were more likely to REACT rather than DECIDE. We defined 'reacting' as choosing from a list of ONE possibilities and 'deciding' as looking at multiple possibilities (the more the better) and (after careful evaluation of each one) choosing the one that was most likely to produce the desired outcome. We heavily emphasized that the outcome was irrelevant (since there was little we could do to guarantee it) and that what was important was the quality of the DECISIONAL PROCESS. For instance, if you had hungry kids at home and only five bucks to your name, and you bought a lottery ticket and WON; was that a good decision? A great outcome, sure, but was it good DECISION (think about the odds of actually hitting the lottery)?

This concept was hard for the prisoners to understand and accept but after 12 weeks of one-on-one counseling combined with experiential workshops, it started to sink in. Suddenly, hitting a guard because he may have verbally abused you, didn't make much sense when all he ended up with was a sore jaw for a coupe of hours and you spent the next 3 months in solitary confinement with a year added onto your sentence. Most of us go through this process automatically, which is why we're on the outside. Most of the inmates never learned or developed this skill set (decision making).

So with all due respect, I can't agree with you that we can judge a decision by it's outcome.

Luv you anyway though, Tony.

Chas

BTW, enjoyed that duo you did with your old guitarist. That sort of thing certainly brings back some of our fondest memories.