I must say that perhaps this is a revelation more about my character than yours, but in trying to think about what it is that makes you so central to our operation, the first thing that came to mind was an old joke. As I say, this is more about me than you as a psychological indicator. It's the story of the argument between the surgeon, the engineer, and the scientist, about who had greater claim to biblical fame in his profession and the creation of the world, as we know it. The surgeon makes a strong argument that he has the first claim because if you go back to the Garden of Eden and the first man and woman, obviously the separation of Eve from Adam was a surgical achievement and therefore it's his profession. There was really in the beginning nothing but chaos and the creation of the sun and the earth, the separation of darkness and light, well that's an engineering achievement.
Somebody has to orchestrate that.
That somebody who makes something more than chaos out of this is, first and foremost, you, Tim. To do that you need remarkable skills of organizational ability, and managerial ability. You need something else that is very closely associated with you, and that is phenomenal patience and steadiness, and the ability of people to believe in your judgment. I saw this in a wholly different context when Tim served with me on the Department of the Navy Civilian Executive Review Board, and we would have lawyers, and economists, and policy makers, all arguing over who should get what kinds of civilian awards. Tim would sit there and when they all got done arguing back and forth, Tim would speak with that kind of levelness that you all associate with him.