Mea Culpa Mea Culpa

I have a confession.I have examined my conscience carefully. There can be no other conclusion. I am an agist. Councillor Gallo has helped me to see the error of my way. At Tuesday's Council meeting,I was arguing against referring to staff,a real estate boondoggle scheme to separate the municipality from millions of dollars of Hydro Reserve money. Why would a staff member have better judgement than an elected member. I chose my words. I did not use the word "boondoggle". Nevertheless, Councillor Gallo,interrupted on a point of order. It's a pattern. He disagrees with my argument and recognizes no rule that compels him to present a reasoned argument in response. Like a small child, he simply interrupts. He is the arbiter of language. Under the rules, a point of order is required to be stated clearly and succinctly and await the ruling of the chair. But Councillor Gallo likes to ramble. He states his enjoyment in listening to me "talk". Then invariably, he references the patience he exercises in listening. Hw gives no hint of understanding the difference between formal debate and social conversation. It's always at that point,in my mind,I fall into the error of bias. I look at the Councillor and listen while he speaks. He has four years experience under his belt. He indicates post-secondary education at York University. Yet progress as a Councillor has been minimal. He no more understands the difference between casual conversation and formal debate now than he did initially. If competence is not there to grasp the logic of simple rules of procedure, how much judgement may we expect on serious matters. His contribution,like most around the table, is a serious of halting, hesitant questions of staff and obvious difficulty comprehending answers. Years of discipline mostly prohibits me from revealing my thoughts,exploding in frustration and crying out to All the Saints in Heaven to preserve us. The rules do not permit Councillors to criticize one another. So I don't. I think... Oh My Lord!!! What has Aurora done to deserve this ? Then I rationalize the lack of knowledge and judgement with the lack of life experience. There it is. In a word, I am an agist. Mea Culpa!!!!!Mea Culpa !!!!!