to the Chapter |
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As an individual, you get into some deep, sticky stuff when you begin to think that the Society, or even your chapter, owes you anything. We're here to serve barbershopping, not the other way around. All of us -- regular members and board members alike -- have to understand that this is a leisure activity, like bowling or golf, with which each individual has chosen to spend some of his precious discretionary time. We do it by choice, and we can just as easily choose to go bowling if barbershopping begins to piss us off. People can be convinced that they should increase their level of commitment to the chapter, but the only way I know to do that is to get them to believe that they and the chapter share some important goals. One way to get them to share goals is to engage the whole chapter in something that's visible and that has an obvious connection to both chapter and individual. Like going to contests. That's why I favor going to contests -- not because I long for the thrill of victory. Instead, I long for the thrill of being part of a group that's got a passion for learning to do something better. Know what I liked most about the contests we've attended? It was sitting around A&R tables, and seeing that almost everyone else in the chapter was there, too, intensely soaking up the feedback that the judges were laying on us. The look on all of your faces during those sessions was one of the most satisfying things that barbershopping has ever offered me, and that goes equally for contests lost and contests won. So -- I don't agree with some people who claim that everyone's motivation for going to contest is a hunger to win. For me, and I think for a lot of the rest of you, an even stronger motivation is a hunger to learn, and I think that that, more than anything else - with the possible exception of Ron's personal influence on our skills and emotions -- is what's accounted for our success over the last couple years. I think that the board has come close, lately, to getting out of touch with the sentiments, needs, and desires of the rest of the chapter. I'm sure I'm as guilty as the next guy on the board when it comes to occasionally believing that we are the heart and mind of the chapter, not the rest of you hoodlums. But I think that we -- you and the board -- share a responsibility to keep each other informed, and I think maybe you haven't been holding up your end of that deal, either. I've recently found myself being asked, by several non-board-members, to defend -- or at least explain -- some things that others have done that were puzzling and offensive to a sizeable portion of the general membership. You folks who've been so emotional and eloquent when you bitch to me are the same people who sit here and smile, and nod your heads, and keep your mouths shut when you could be standing up and publicly voicing your own opinion. Instead, you let someone else comment on the emperor's clothes, and take the heat, and come off as the bad guy. Well, yeah, the last couple of times you knew I'd do it, and I'll probably keep doing it even after I get thrown off the board, but some day . . . it'd be nice if you didn't hide, and wait for someone else to be the one who raises hell and then has to sit through the lectures about cohesiveness and maintaining the image of sweetness and light, even when people do some really dumb things. Accentuating the positive doesn't mean that when I do something dumb, you're relieved of the responsibility to challenge me. It doesn't mean that you have to sit by and take it when someone clearly does something that you believe to be counter to the best interest of the hobby that you're sworn to preserve and encourage. We need to talk to each other about things that are important to the chapter, not just the fluffy social chit-chat that some people think is the only acceptable stuff at weekly meeting time. Talk to the board members, or at least to some of your fellow chapter members, about what you want -- and don't want -- for the chapter. Let people know where you stand. Don't hang back and hope someone else will have the guts to stand up for what you think is right, because one of these days, it won't happen. Then where will you be? Will you be one of the people who get up and walk out and join another chapter, all because no one in this chapter was able to read your mind? |