Live Strong

Lance Armstrong is an inspiration to many of us, and that's why I wear one of the Lance Armstrong Foundation's yellow bracelets. While it is a show of support for cancer survivors living strong, it's also a constant reminder of relentless dedication to achieving one's goals against the odds. Not the punditry odds pronounced by critics, mind you, who easily sway those people of faint heart lacking firm center. No, but the real odds presented by life threatening illness, athletic challenges of the grandest scale, and reaching a world-wide audience to "live strong."

A few weeks ago at a Los Altos City Architecture and Site Committee meeting I noticed one of the commissioners wearing a similar yellow bracelet. Of course, it could've been for show, but nonetheless that commissioner was the one to see the big picture in terms of our local codes and evolution of neighborhoods. The behavior fit the bracelet -- doing the right thing at the right time, irrespective of voiciferous critics, competing interests, and myopic expediency.

Thank you Lance. And thanks to everyone who echoes by example integrity and responsibility.