My response will be rather longish (sorry, folks, but I just felt I had to be as thorough with this one as I possibly could!).
On Mon, 28 Jan 2002 15:27:56 Jim Elwell wrote: >... >The difference between me and others such as Marcus is not really in how >effective we perceive the USMA to be. I personally wish it were more >effective. I have no doubt that the officers of the USMA wish it were more >effective. > >The difference is that I have personally run a small, volunteer, dues-based >organization, and have, I believe, a far better understanding of the >difficulties involved, and therefore a better appreciation for what the >USMA has accomplished. > Then you do indeed have some advantage here as mine (GO SI EH) does not even have that... privilege (dues-based)... :-S However, due to mine being even more (self-)"restricted" I can also relate to this difficulty, can't I?... >To wit: I have had people call me up and accuse me of not "getting the word >out," not "leading," not "making things happen." Several people have said >similar things about the USMA leadership. > Guilty as charged, but ONLY in the beginning. I soon realized that USMA is indeed not the organization I thought it was, or could be, with respect to **metrication**. Therefore, in all fairness, I think you should take this into account! So, I'm not expecting much from them anymore... :-) >My experience is that those who want these kinds of things have no clue as to: > >(a) how hard it is to get *any* publicity (spend hours writing and mailing >a press release to 100 publications, sometimes spend more hours calling >editors, and on a good day, you MIGHT get one or two publications to print >some hacked version of your release) > Noted. When you're cash-strapped and does not have much influence or clout, indeed. Therefore, it's fair to say that I actually, personally, do 'have a clue'... >(b) how little of what is written and mailed by the organization is ever >actually read (spend many hours printing and editing a newsletter, mail it >to all members and many others, get nearly zero feedback or response to >calls to action, etc.) > Ditto. >(c) how few people actually step up to the plate when you ask for >volunteers to do anything other than preach to the choir (things like write >letters to the editor, write articles for the house newsletter, write >letters to politicians (let alone visit them), etc.) > Ditto. >(d) how hard it is to get people who are not interested in the "cause" to >pay any attention at all to you (publication editors rarely return calls; >same for politicians) > Ditto. >I could go on, but I'll just say: the folks who are running the USMA with >unpaid, volunteer hours deserve our thanks, not our criticism. > True. However, I'd like to think that I and a few others here would like to see that either changed or complemented. I'll explain. Why not create another 'umbrella'? Or why not think of creating another type of organization that, unlike USMA, would be much more pro-active vis-a-vis **metrication**? These are just questions, food for thought. You may be content with how things have been progressing, Jim, but please also realize that many may not! Is there anything wrong with that? >NOW: if you REALLY think things should be different, what are YOU going to >do, rather than preach to the choir??? > Sigh... Here is where things seem to be getting... somewhat... hotter. Apart from the fact that I already disclosed some of the things I, personally, have been doing towards *metrication* (and for which, unfortunately, it seems I'm not getting much recognition from you, Jim... Pity, as I do recall I have concerning you many, many times here!...) I have the following to say: First of all, I should return the question back to you. Sorry to quote Scriptures on you, but this is a matter of principle to me: Mathew 7:1-5: "Judge not, that it be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge,ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye". Two parts, therefore, to the above. Judge not - one should be careful about how one *judges* others. Each one of us has our own ideas on how to contribute to this cause. Can any of us really be a judge on others on how best to accomplish this? Or shouldn't we, conversely, accept graciously how others have been doing it in their own way and be appreciative of such efforts? The fact that one may come up with other ideas and plans to do things which in their view could be more effective based on the weight of evidence does not necessarily mean that such individual would not be appreciative of the contributions others (such as yourself!) have been making to the cause! The second part. Are YOU doing (or have done) ANY of the list you cited below? If you have, wonderful, congratulations. If you haven't, well, see Mathew above... Other points. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, Jim. But the nature of this post of yours also seems to indicate either of the following (and/or individually or in any combination): 1. That these are the only things that would work when it comes to metricating the US. 2. That if one does not do any of the things below, he's not doing his part. 3. That these are necessary for metrication to be effective. Finally, before I tackle each one of these, I'd like to remind you that many, if not all of these, could only be accomplished if you were: living in the US, a US citizen, had enough time; either, or some or all. >Are YOU going to volunteer to write, print and mail or fax some press >releases (after, of course, you spend many hours tracking down the >addresses to send them to)? > I've already said in another mail that I'd be willing to allocate some time to USMA for certain tasks, provided I'd see relevancy of such towards the *metrication* cause! Therefore, technically, you already know my answer to the above, Jim! >Are YOU going to put some time into calling 535 congressional and senate >offices, in order to leave 534 messages that get ignored and maybe one that >you actually find someone interested? > I'm not a US citizen, and I doubt it any Congressman would listen to what I'd have to say, unfortunately - but, for your info, I did write already to many of them, including the President!... (They don't even listen when it's the official position of other governments!!! Remember the manifesto by GOJ?...) >Are YOU going to volunteer to take over as newsletter editor or designer, >at the cost of 8 to 16 hours per issue? > Please, see my first answer above. >Are YOU going to volunteer as chair of some standards committee, and spend >lots of time (and probably money) to attend and run the meetings? > I'd LOVE to do that, actually, but... Again, I can't be in any of those taking place in US territory, I'm a foreigner, remember?... >Are YOU going to volunteer as a researcher, to help others when they need >addresses of publications, or legal research, or directories of businesses >of some nature or other? > Ditto, my first answer, with the addendum that I wouldn't know how to help in this regard living and being in Canada... >What are YOU going to do? > As far as the US is concerned there is not much really that I CAN do (and you know it!...). However, please remember those things I DO do on other fronts. And please also remember that people may differ from you on the approaches to metrication... ;-) >And anything you write to this forum does NOT count, as you are only >preaching to the choir. >... And THAT may be a good point. Perhaps I should stop wasting some of my time with this forum after all. After so many years we continue to wrangle about how to best do this (metrication) without much *action* taking place, unfortunately (at least that kind of action that some of us would expect to take place for this cause to really move forward!...). On the other hand, one should also consider, where else can one find resources (human and material) to best capitalize them for the cause?... Difficult issue, eh? And the discussion goes on... Bottom line, those of us, who are 'pro-action' concerning *metrication*, what should we do now? Several of us already shared several strategic plans of action here. Some of us continue to believe that it should take a *concerted/united/collective* effort to get things done, not in isolation or in piecemeal fashion, but **as part of an overall plan of action**!!! How about we rehash those and come up with some consensus on them? I'd like to believe that we do seem to have reached some agreements (including you, too, Jim!) with several aspects of them! So... where do we go from here? (once again...) Marcus Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. Sign up today at http://mail.lycos.com
