On 2019/06/27 16:43:34, Myrle Krantz <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> We are not a religion. We do not take principles on faith. We are
> responsible for the shape of our foundation. We can't abdicate that
> responsibility just by shrugging our shoulders and saying: "core tenant",
> "founding principle".
>
That is true, of course. On the other hand, we also do not ignore or discount
things that are, and have been, core tenets or founding principles with a "show
me" or "I didn't know, therefore it must not exist."
Most people, when they join a group, and there are questions such as these,
they ask the questions and, when they receive the answers say "Thanks. I
understand that now." They understand that there is a history long before them,
and that they are part of that chain, that story. They realize that there is a
void in their knowledge, and that their lack of knowledge does not imply lack
of clarity nor lack of certainty in something. Basically, they grok that *their
individual* ignorance is not institutional ignorance.
This board has it tough because with previous boards, maybe 1 to 2 new people
came onboard, and so even if they didn't know about something as basic as "we
don't pay for development" for example, 7-8 other directors were there to
educate them, and the new directors then served as new repositories for that
info. Sometimes we had directors take that info and were flabbergasted by it.
But they realized that it was a principle nonetheless, and that it was
therefore policy and abided by it. It didn't need to be constantly verified.
Today, unfortunately, we have a lot of directors which lack such information,
and think that because they are unaware of said policy that it doesn't exist.
And, even more unfortunately, they are emboldened by others who are well aware
of said policy, but try to discount it or, even worse, "erase" it, with demands
for "show me where it is written".
Now, if you want to CHANGE the said policy, well that is a whole different
point. I wouldn't recommend it, and I think several others wouldn't as well...
but at least try to understand it before scrapping it; you may discover that it
makes eminent sense after all.
Cheers!
