John,
I don't know you, and I have no pending business dealings with you. I am not party to this situation, but due to the circumstances, I think most of us here on RFF have read this or that about it. I have no doubt many have drawn their own conclusions about the situation and about your actions or lack of same.
I cannot speak for others, but I feel I have to say this, and I mean it in all honesty and without rancor - this public wearing of the hair shirt strikes me as a unnecessary, unusual, uncomfortable for me to read, and just a tad on the creepy side. If you are experiencing family problems of the sort we are all most likely imagining, then I have full sympathy for you. On the other hand, if you are indeed intending to continue a dishonest enterprise, then I would not be surprised to find lie piled on top of lie, each intended to arouse maximum public sympathy. I have dealt with too many pathological liars in my lifetime, including those in *my* own family, to just instantly accept whatever explanation is given. My potential sympathy is tempered by my personal history.
However, neither I nor anyone else here who has not had dealings with you is due any explanation or apology - you have not harmed us in any way. If your reputation has suffered due to forces beyond your control, I feel a better way to restore that reputation would be to engage in dialogue and reparations with those who have pending deals with you, in private. If I know the members of RFF at all well, they'll report positive results as quickly as they reported potential shady dealings. This would mean far more to me than any apology by you.
Public apologies are appropriate when a person's actions have wronged or offended a large segment of the public readership of RFF. These seem to be a series of private deals that have experienced, for whatever reason, various problems. I believe your dealings should more properly be with them, not with the rest of us with regard to this issue.
These are just my feelings on the matter, please do not interpret this as an attack on your character or my lack of belief in the veracity of your explanations.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
