Run vs. Ruin

In the springtime, a small town's interest turns to elections. Around here, that involves city council and school board. Some times there are no contested races and the sitting board will simply usher in the (usually) old group and save the taxpayers some money.

Some times, things are not so simple.

This year, we're in the midst of contesting. I heard through the grapevine (faster and about as accurate as the Internet) that one man was running for office, not necessarily because he wanted to, but because he believed that not doing so would allow those left on the ballot to be elected by default and therefore just run things. In his opinion: not for the better.

So I got to thinking about the link between RUN and RUIN. It's sort of the opposite of the old admonition, "There's no I in team." All too often in "ruin", it's the I doing the ruining. Our egos (who, me?) get in the way and we run something into ruin.

I don't know if it's original or not, but the only difference between RUN and RUIN is oftentimes I.