Hydro Junkie

Andy, I can honestly say he's not being disrespectful to those that have family or friends on that list. People passing on is just a fact of life and, as such, is just something we have to deal with.
With that said, the boating club I belong to has a tab on their webpage that says "Statistics". This tab takes you to a spread sheet that has a record of all the points earned by everyone that's ever been a member of the club. There are many on that list that are no longer with us so, with that being the case, should they be deleted from the list? When I look at that list, I don't see just a name and number of points that person earned. I see a name associated with someone I knew, helped with their boat, was helped with my boat by, raced against and, in many cases, considered a friend or bordering on being family. Some of them are why I'm still involved with the R/C community and trying to live up to their legacies. I know I will probably never equal some of the point totals these people had and know that I'm not the best driver in the club. At the same time, those that I knew that are now gone have set a standard that will be my goal to reach before I have to call it quits too. The fact that Franklin used a number from a documented source may seem cold or heartless to some but he's putting out a message AND a warning that our days are finite and the amount of time the AMA is going to be around is also finite. We all can see it by looking at the financial reports. The treasury balance is dropping, membership numbers are dropping while spending is staying the same or getting greater. The numbers don't lie and if Franklin's method of putting out the warning isn't pleasant, the results of not listening should be considered even more unpleasant