Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had it right...

I'm always amazed how some of my students show up wearing T-shirts from rock bands that were popular when I was in high school.

Not too long ago a young man showed up wearing a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt. I told him I saw Hendrix in concert.

"Dude, no way..."

Dude? Whatever. But yes, there was a way.

There was a way that we also listened to Crosby, Still & Nash -- later adding Young and many of their songs -- including "Teach Your Children."

Part of the lyrics are:

"You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye."

My guess is that many parents teach their children to take responsibility for their actions. We must practice what we preach.

Even village officials.

In many ways, the filing of petition containing more than 2,000 signatures to put a recall vote for a public official on a ballot is a sad day -- not for the public official, but for the fact that all the good that has been done, and not everything has been perfect -- it never is -- is over shadowed by, in the case, one person, who wants to yell fire in a crowded theater just to get attention.

The fact that Lisa Stone, as reported in The Daily Herald and Des Plaines Journal and Topics, reportedly said "“Trustee (Jeff) Berman executed the recall ordinance and now it is being carried out...” is yet another indication that Trustee Stone wants to blame everyone else for what has transpired in the past 15 months.

Now the heat is turned up a notch and her best defense is to blame someone else. Whether Trustee Jeff Berman's introduction of the recall ordinance was intended for Stone is immaterial.

The fact remains that it's there and being used. What Stone seems to have missed is that to every action there's a reaction. People are reacting to her -- maybe not to what she is saying, but how.

My dad used to tell me not to burn any bridges. Good advice. Stone has leveled so many bridges it will a long time to rebuild and redirect the village.

No more can Buffalo Grove afford to be the laughing stock. No more can the focus be on the special interests of one trustee. No more can insults, accusations and disrespect for the parliamentary procedure be the focus of our municipal government.

"..Must have a code that you can live by

And so become yourself ..."

Stone has her own code and she became "herself" after the election. And now, so it seems, she may pay the price.

But she cannot blame Jeff Berman -- or anyone else at 50 Raupp.

My dad had another saying -- it's your bed, you sleep in it -- which is another way of saying you need to take responsibility for your actions.

If it's what we teach our children, it should not be so hard to do.

Especially for an elected official.