One thing that I have learned about myself over the past 30 or so years is that I am not the best person in the world when it comes to achieving what we in psychology call closure. That is to say, I avoid it more often than not. This column is no exception. Over the past month or so, I have pondered many topics that I thought would be interesting to tackle in my last installment. First, I thought a retrospective covering all of the past issues would be a good idea. Then, I thought a column asking practitioners to pontificate about future trends in the field would be a good idea. After that, I got lost in a plethora of other ideas that seemed even more trite and hackneyed. In the end, due to my inability to provide closure and my analysis of the situation I decided that none of the topics were adequate and all would certainly be presumptuous if not pretentious.

Quite simply, who am I to try to summarize what we know in this field through the paltry lens of what has been covered in this column? Who am I to try to portend what will come next in our field by asking what would certainly be a small and probably unrepresentative sample of practitioners to speculate on the future of I-Oa discipline which will undoubtedly last way beyond my lifetime or that of anyone reading this column. Besides, the real world (or more accurately the events happening in the real world) will go on happening with or without this column.

So instead, attempting to create an artificial sense of closure, and thereby trivializing the contributions of those who have responded to me over the years, I have decided not to tackle a final topic in this column but to simply say thank you and farewell. I think that this is the most meaningful way to end this column. As human beings, offering sincere thanks to and displaying sincere gratitude towards those who support and appreciate us cannot be overvalued.

All in all, I have truly enjoyed editing this column and receiving all of the feedback people have sent me over the years. Its nice to know that ones hard work has been appreciated and that there are kindred spirits out there. With that said and in the immortal words of William Shakespeare, I close this column. 

Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow. That I shall say good night till it be morrow. 

Dont be strangers! You can always contact me at PricewaterhouseCoopers, 300 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT 06901 or by e-mail at j9151@aol.com.