The Man Who Wouldn’t be President

Day 1,120, 07:18 • Published in USA USA • by Bradley Reala


I have worked with a great deal of people in this game, from Presidents to Generals to two clickers who’s only interest is in working and training each day. I have enjoyed almost every moment that I’ve played this game. There is really only one moment in this game that I have ever really detested, and that is watching a good friend pass on. That moment hit me yesterday when I received a small amount of gold from Myles Robinson. We all know what that usually means. An old friend sends you a bit of gold out of nowhere, and you check his stats to see he’s dying.

Myles Robinson hit zero wellness yesterday. I don’t know for sure, because I have been busy, but I think it’d be well within reason to assume that most of the wellness loss happened yesterday morning. His last shout? “Vale et gratias pro omnibus piscibus.” or for those who don’t speak Latin, “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

I’m not sure where to begin, honestly. I had kind of hoped that I’d never have to write this eulogy. Myles is one of my best friends in this game. He has been my closest confidante, and a pillar to lean on when I’d fallen. He was my Chief of Staff, and a great one at that. The poor guy had just moved to Italy when I begged him to be my Chief of Staff, and so he had a radically different schedule than the rest of my staff. He managed it excellently. I’ve noted the weaknesses that my staff had in a few posts on eusforums, but Myles was never one of those weaknesses. He knew his stuff. Not many people realize what a job it is, Chief of Staff, but without Myles I’d have crumbled. In fact, I did crumble. Myles wrote my last article from office.

It’s hard to overstate the sheer amount of respect I have for Myles. I met him when I was Deputy Secretary of State, under Cerb. He was the ambassador to China at the time. All I knew of him at that point was repeatedly noting with Cerb that there was one crazy ambassador who ALWAYS got his reports in, and they were ALWAYS great. Cerb stepped down, and I stepped up as Secretary of State, and immediately started looking for someone to replace the outgoing Directors of Ambassadorial Affairs (DodgerCatcher and System0101, another pair of guys I sorely miss). Myles was easily the best man for the job. I started to really get to know Myles at that time. He was a hard worker, tenacious and driven, but there was something else that I respected even more than his super human work ethic. Myles lived by a rare moral compass. In this game, with cheating and multi-ing so rampant, it’s sometimes hard to find people who don’t at least condone of the cheating that’s done. Myles never did. He spent his time weeding out multiers and working on making this game a fair crop for everyone. Some people ridicule the idea, but I’ve always respected him for that. He knew his morals and he stuck to them, and it’s a rare gem of a person who does that.

After Jewitt’s terms as President our paths separated. Myles continued to work with the State Department, I took a hiatus from government. A month later, PigInZen became President and I returned to serve as his Secretary of State. To put it frankly, I sucked. Myles, who had been Deputy Secretary under Frost, should have been Secretary under PigInZen, and without him I’d have been completely lost. A month away from the Executive can really shoot a guy’s experience all to hell, and I was grateful that Myles was able to pick up the slack. Myles, legitimately, was Secretary of State that month, if in all but name. The next month I was relieved of duty and Myles finally took the seat. I can honestly say without hesitation that Myles was the best Secretary of State that I have ever seen.

It’s hard for me to separate out the next couple months, honestly. Myles was Deputy Secretary for part of them, and was acting Secretary for the rest. He did the job, and he did it well. When it came time for me to choose a person as Chief of Staff, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation. Myles was the obvious pick. As I’ve said before, I couldn’t have picked better in that respect.

Without going into the gritty details, Myles was my crutch for my entire Presidency. I made more mistakes than I should have, and Myles was always there helping me pick up the pieces. Looking back on it, our roles probably should’ve been reversed. Myles was the most qualified man for the job. He had been for months, and he continued to be for months. I guess he saw how badly the job sucks up a person’s life, because he never made the run. He could have. Probably should have.

A few months passed, my tumultuous Presidency was left well behind, forgotten by many, ridiculed by the rest. Myles remained the eUSA’s “man behind the mask” in many respects, especially foreign policy. Finally, and I won’t go into the details of the joke that led to the decision, Myles and the rest of the former State Department guys from Jewitt’s Presidency all decided to go to New Zealand. At the time we were going because of a joke that had been made many months before, but we soon realized that we had stumbled into more of a warzone than we could have imagined, and Myles emerged as the natural leader.

I think the battle for New Zealand is really what did it for all of us. We were trying to start a country fresh, dealing with natives, Aussies, and a large contingent of Serbs. Myles managed to be the best provisional leader we could have asked for, but...When you’re the guy in the hot seat, every little criticism seems like a rebuke of your personal character. Every little niggling doubt that you have becomes a full blown attack from your “enemies.” It’s tiring as hell, and Myles dealt with a lot of stuff that, rightfully, he shouldn’t have had to. In the end he and I headed back to the eUSA, not defeated, but just exhausted. We had set out for a grand adventure, and had found one. Neither of us really expected it to end up like it did, but we had fun, and I guess that’s what matters.

Myles had been contemplating leaving the game for a while. I knew it. I’ve done all I can to keep him from doing so over the past few months. I guess he finally took the compulsion. I hate saying good bye to an old friend. It’s one of the worst feelings in the world, and I only hope that he at least pops in to say “hey” on irc. He knows the place.

As a final aside, to the man who did everything for America, who left nothing for himself. For a man who gave away his gold so our strongest tanks could go into battle. For a man who who spent months of his life tracking down cheaters. For a man who never wavered in his devotion to his friends or his country. For a man who truly earned the Presidency with his tireless efforts, even though he never decided to run. I would like to give my Country President medal to Myles. I didn’t earn it, or at least, it’s doesn’t mean much to me. He did earn it. He earned every moment of a Presidency, and just decided not to actually do it. I would ask the admins (though I have my doubts as to if it will actually happen) to transfer my CP medal to posthumously to Myles Robinson, the one who actually earned the medal. He deserves it. Without him I’d have crashed and burned in my first term a Senator. Without him America might have been quite rudderless for a number of months, not to mention the stability he provided the country. Myles is an American Hero. He’s a Patriot. He’s the President we never had. Myles is all of this, and I am proud to say, Myles is my friend.

Vale et gratias pro omnibus piscibus.
Vale et gratias pro omnibus memoribus.
Myles Robinson: August 5, 2009 - December 13, 2010