What a great posting! I really enjoyed it...I feel like I have lived in your realm on numerous occasions and it is sad and disappointing when the Knightly Volunteers loose heart and loose their passion for "making a difference."

There has long been a sort of cartoon that has a dragon standing by a tree picking its teeth contentedly with the lance of a vanquished Knight. The captions simply says "Sometimes the dragon wins."

I have thought of and used that phrase often in my career. I have felt that pain of loosing the nobel fight; but as another noted, in the long run it made me stronger and more confident in myself.

Trust that your nobel deeds and struggles and those of your Knight Volunteer have not been in vain. In addition to all that the other responders have offered I would offer that your passion and committment to the young minds whom you helped begin their quest will pay society dividends far into the future. The Dragon's win will come at a high price. Your deeds will live on in the hearts and minds of those whom you've helped begin their own nobel journies.

As the others have said much more eloquently than I could, thank you for your post...and for your wonderful deeds, for your passion and committment...it inspires so many (as it does me) and that, too, will never be lost.

Thank you for all that you've done and for sharing with us in such a wonderful tale of 'ole.