Responses in-band... -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, October 25, 2001 8:48 AM Subject: [obc] I Have a Dream
> ><snip Preamble>. > > <snip qualifications> I do know that I cannot >act alone to realize my dream. > >What saddens me is that I very often feel like some enemy of the OBC >because of my association with another organization. > > Association with another organization is not a problem, in and of itself, at all. I'll kindly suggest that you are taking this far too personally, and you are not realizing what was made abundantly clear at the AGM. The issue is whether the interests and activities of one organization are substantially similar to those of another. Further to that, should one organization contribute resources and effort (volunteers or dollars) toward supporting the interests of the other? The answer at the OBC AGM seemed to be "we'll be advocates when it suits our goals", and I took this to mean we could do it unilaterally, or in cooperation with the other organizations. That story carried the day, as shown in the voting. The "other organizations" do the job with which they are focussed, very well, and largely to the satisfaction of its members. The OBC accomplishes its particular goals, also very well, and largely to the satisfaction of its members. Both seek to improve, to satisfy more largely, (??) its respective members. The membership of both organizations help steer those goals. They also volunteer to help achieve them. The point is that the OBC is largely made up of people who wish to pursue goals which are different to those of the other organizations. Just because we ride bikes, doesn't mean that we must also have a children's safety education program, or whatever it is you seem to wish we would have. The OBC has rider instruction with a view toward making the club tours fun and safe for everyone. It also has advanced riding clinics for those who would like to be more than club-tour proficient. If every bicycle club had to fill every little facet of anything to do with two-wheeled conveyence....well, what a boring world. Here is a more black and white example, if it is still not clear. I build a bicycle RACING club. The only things we does is trains together, travels to races before races, we races, we drinks beer and eats pizza afterwards, then we drives home from races together. Twice a year we puts on a race for fellow racers, and everyone has a great time. We gets along and enjoys everything about what we are doing. We's a pot of cash, replenished annually from our big race. We uses our "s"'s incorrectly. One day, some fine chap with white hair, more than is normal for his age, shows up and asks that we organize tours, with 6 different average speeds, we meet at different signposts at a shopping mall, we should have time-trials for women on Tuesdays and for women and everyone-else on thursdays. And some part of that cash in the pot should go toward each activity. My racing club says, "It sounds like you'd enjoy that, but we are happy with what we've built, and we should like to continue with our racing (and beer and pizza) focus, because we make it work, and it pleases us. Please, feel invited to ride in our races, for the entry fee. We hope to ride in your TT's and we'll pay the entry fee. Maybe, from time to time, we will co-operate on activities that align with those goals held in common, probably most-often the beer and pizza part. But we are not changing our racing club's focus, nor are we handing over cash from the pot to support yours. We may even have members who belong to both organizations, entitling those lucky few to the priviledges of both clubs, and getting the breadth of experience they are seeking. Wow, that's great. We's also not going stop adding "s"'s to some verbs, and to the odd pronoun." The white haired chap works hard on his vision, separate from the racing club, and succeeds in his preferred domain. There are two groups of happy people, and some happy people in two groups. There may be unhappy people in one group, since they are expending their effort within the wrong group. That would be the pannier-toting tourist who keeps showing up to the racing club's training rides, getting dropped, and wondering why things can't be the same as in the nice white-haired man's tours from post #3. >I have brought up another issue with the OBC which is actually very >unrelated and outside of any scope of the other organization's mandate. >Unfortunately, I feel it was judged on my association with another >organization and not on the issues merit. Oh, I suppose I could air it >on the newsgroup and perhaps I could have made the point of going to the >AGM to raise this issue, but I did not and will not. > >It is my intention to educate on this issue and not create animosity. It >will lead nowhere. <unhelpful commentary follows> Oh my. This is a long way to say "I could say something, er, but I won't". What's tragic about it, are the 16.4 seconds of my life it took me to read, that I'll never be able to get back. Say it or don't. Don't tell me you're not going to tell me. <an immediate apology for being so harsh, here, and my attempt at helpfulness resumes> > >I feeling extremely hurt, discouraged and demoralized. > >All I really want is to share my husband's enormous pride of the OBC. > Emotional words. Can't give much advice here 'cept to suggest stepping back and examining objectively what's been expressed throughout this whole affair. Also consider what transpired at the AGM through the democratic process. I hope you find the opportunities to pursue your dream. Make it happen. In this case, it's not necessarily where you thought it would happen, that's all. You are just the white-haired chap who couldn't talk the racers into going touring with him. He still succeeded in this story, and he ate pizza and drank beer, too. He never misused an "s", however. He had to draw a line somewhere. Perhaps the "other organization", or another one altogether, has the mandate and budget wherein this dream can happen for you. Smeulders out. --- The characters in this parable are purely ficticious, and any resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Well okay, but the EVENTS, those, .... those, I really DID make THEM up. No animals were harmed during the production of this work, 'cept maybe the bacteria atop my keyboard, and nobody cares about them at all. ---------- ------ To unsubscribe, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Club Office: [EMAIL PROTECTED], (613) 230-1064 Web/mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb Newsletter: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb/Newsletter ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiDo.a2i8p1 Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
