As written in previously posted entries, the New Jersey State Attorney General has attempted to ruin me personally and professionally. I do not want that part of the story to shroud the privilege I had to lead the Victims of Crime Compensation Agency for two and one half years.
On April 22, 2008, I addressed the people who work at the Victims of Crime Compensation Agency in honor of National Victims' Rights Week. At the time I delivered these words, I had no way of knowing I would be fired and replaced by the very sort of bureaucrats described therein. I may never be reinstated at the VCCA, and the Attorney General may never concede the errors that have left innocent crime victims out in the cold.
On the other hand, I would like the people who did such fine work to get some recognition. And no matter what happens in the future, I hope they never forget that for one brief shining moment, there was a place in New Jersey State Government where artists were able to realize their potential and suffering victims were healed.
T0 THE VCCA, WITH LOVE
In the year 415 B.C.E., the citizens of Athens gave their highest award to the playwright Euripides. The play for which he received the award was not about great triumphs on the battlefield, fetes on the Olympic fields of competition, or a soap opera about the gods. It was a play about the pain and suffering in the aftermath of war. The award was presented to him in gratitude for reminding them of the horror of war, lest they enter into one without just cause.
At one point in the play, the main character is holding the body of her murdered son in her arms and she says to him, “Tis I, Old, homeless, childless, that for thee must shed Cold tears, so young, so miserably dead.”
There are misguided people who would call us bureaucrats. Stereotypical government workers. Dilettantes with puny souls, blithely adhering to the dictates of statute and administrative code.
You are artists. People come here in pain and you help them heal. There is no higher calling anywhere. There is no more important vocation anywhere. Not just in State government. Anywhere.
The statute and administrative code? They are the Cider House Rules. We are here to be open hearted and open minded to people who cry cold tears. Shooting victims who do not have money for medical care. Rape victims who do not have money for counseling. Parents of murdered children who do not have money for a funeral. The victims of domestic violence who need money to escape. You see to their well being and answer their prayers when nobody else will.
By far the greatest privilege of my professional life has been to be among you to witness pure greatness. Last year alone, you provided over $16,000,000 in help to thousands of people with nowhere else to turn. Your work is inspiring because you do it so well, and especially because you do it without recognition or accolades. After years of this public service you have come to know the only rewards you will ever get are the ones you feel in your hearts. So on this, National Victims’ Rights Week, on behalf of the Government of the State of New Jersey, and as Director of the VCCA, I recognize all of you for your professionalism, your diligence, your compassion, and your integrity.
And on behalf of people who cry cold tears, Thank you.
Edward G. Werner, Director of the New Jersey Victims of Crime Compensation Agency
April 22, 2008
Copyright (c) 2008, Edward Werner, All rights reserved
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2 comments:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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