Statement from the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross On The Music Program for the March 10 Recognition Event
Contact: American Red Cross National Headquarters.
Phone: (202) 639-3500ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., March 11, 2002 — The Fundamental Principles that guide the American Red Cross — Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntarism, Unity and Universality — are more important today than ever before. We have used these principles time and time again to govern our work here in Orange County and around the world.
We used these same principles to develop the program to honor our volunteers this past Sunday who provide vital services to our community throughout the year. We certainly did not intend to hurt or offend anyone.
But the judgements we made in this case in applying our principles clearly offended some in our community. Principles should remain inviolate. But like many things in life, it is important to use reasonable judgement in applying principles to the everyday circumstances we confront. So, while our principles remain sound, the judgement we made to exclude certain songs from the Sunday program was a mistake.
We want to apologize to the community and to any people who were hurt or disappointed by our actions.
...I guess it is working (not that this kind of apology means anything)