At 02:30 PM 1/29/2002 -0800, Ma Be wrote: >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!).
My email to which Marcus is referring (where I said "Are YOU going to ....") clearly came across as more directed at Marcus personally and more confrontative than I had intended. I assure everyone it was not directly at Marcus as an individual, and I was not trying to be offensive. I very much was trying to say "Hey, let's quit complaining and start doing!" With that, here are some small comments to Marcus' lengthy email. >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? No there is nothing wrong with it. However, those of you who are NOT happy with the USMA, go start such an organization. Don't use this forum to berate the USMA, go start your own organization that will be more effective. Yes, those who do not live in the USA are handicapped in this, but not all the disaffected are foreigners. >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... My list was by no means inclusive of everything that can be done to help the USMA directly -- it was a mere sampling. To answer your question, I have not done any of these specific things I listed for the USMA. I have done many other things, but, as I noted, that was not an all-inclusive list. Nonetheless, I take my ranting to heart, and have started a couple of new efforts to help the USMA, one item in particular which was on the list. I'll post more at an appropriate time. >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? > >So... where do we go from here? (once again...) Remember that I am the one who believes that metrication will happen by thousands of small steps by thousands of supporters. The things I listed in my prior email were just a few of those small steps. In other words, I cannot answer Marcus' question because I do not believe there is an answer. The USA is a large, messy, convoluted, multi-dimensional, multi-cultural and extremely complex country. In general, there is no way to make anything happen in this country except the hard way: grass roots activity. If you agree with me, review the list I posted or ask USMA officers where you can help out. If not, then all I would ask is that you not use the USMA forum to castigate the USMA for failing to do what you think should be done. Jim Elwell
