congratulations  
in recognition of   
your exemplary  work  
and  
 your resourcefulness   
in overcoming our inadequate  
funding of your work  
and   
our inability to stop you   
from developing this   
extraordinary  
new system  
using off the shelf  
readily available components  
that are   
-super efficient-  
-low cost-  
-low maintenance-  
-durable-  
-simple to use-  
-space saving-  
-time saving-  
...  
please accept  
this 
"award of excellence" 
and 
it's cash value 
as a token of our esteem 
from your  
Government  
Employee Awards Program 
as recognition for 
your incredible  work  
...  
unfortunately  
we cannot  
make the decision  
 to use  
your excellent system  
...  
a decision requires  
that a precedent exist 
in the form of an existing system 
your system  
 is new  
it has no precedent  
therefore  
we decided  
on a system 
with precedent 
 the American system   
yes 
it's out dated  
-difficult to use-  
-slower-  
-requiring more staff-  
-a thousand times more costly-  
yes 
we'll have to raise our fees 
but 
it's defendable 
against any possible criticism 
that our government 
may encounter 
after all is said and done 
they put a man on the moon 
they can't be wrong 
you must learn 
it is not our role 
lead the world 
and embarrass our 
friends 
to the south 
...  
we the 
representatives for your government 
thank you  
for your excellent work  
and  we the 
representatives for your government 
do not thank you  
for your excellent work 
be proud that 
we 
do it 
"the Government way" 
"the Canadian way" 
  
end 

Keith O'Connor 
Aug   1   2001 
Ottawa  Canada 
www.tinmangallery.com