Moving Forward by Zube (Zube@cs.colostate.edu) Created: May 4, 2009 Updated: Mar 3, 2010 http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~dzubera/movingforward.txt A common phrase I have much experience with is "moving forward". It's an infuriating, cowardly phrase, an acceptable suit euphemism for STFU. Here is what it means in detail: "Yes, all you say is undoubtedly true or might be true if I cared enough to think about your words, but, of course, I don't. I may have destroyed your house, killed your puppies, ruined your reputation or made decisions that ultimately cost you time, money or energy, but I'm not interested in any discussion that might reflect poorly on me, even if such a discussion might lead to better decisions in the future or might make me change my mind. Now get bent and stop thinking about the past so I can make the decision I was going to make anyway." My reply, from now on: "I'm not interested in moving forward until we learn from history. I'm interested in which decisions were made that put us where we are now, who was responsible for those decisions and how we can avoid making similar decisions in the future. If you aren't interested in such things, then you aren't moving forward, you are turning tail."