Grand Court Post-Mortem

[quidditchgrrl]

I swear Grand Court is boot camp for the elderly.  I am home and my back, neck and butt are all sore.  Who knew that schlepping a 24-ounce stick around for four hours would be so exhausting?

I have to say, however, that we kicked butt!  Specifically, I kicked butt, if I do say so myself.  My counterpart in the West simply refused to cede the lead to me, though.  No one could convince her that yes, I did know what I was doing, but I just tweaked my walk a little and it was all fine.

There were many comments at the informal opening about "youth are our future" and all.  Problem is how they treat those younger members when they join.  There are reasons younger members don't stay active, and it's mostly in the attitude they are received:

1.  Stop asking over and over, "is your husband/wife involved" or "does your husband/wife belong".  Accept the answer, "it's just not his/her thing" and leave it at that.  After the fifth or sixth time you ask, we begin to wonder if our attendance is conditional on the attendance of our significant other.

2.  Ask us to help, but don't ask us to go straight to the East.  Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures, but don't get mad when we can't drop everything to take over.

3.  Along the same lines, remember when you were just out of school, just married, and starting a family?  How much time did you have to give to the Masonic bodies?  Not much, eh?  We're working at our jobs, with little seniority and not much vacation time.  There's no way to demand a schedule change if you work in public service or work second shift.  Please understand that, and quit harping on the fact that we can't re-arrange our lives to suit the meeting schedule of the Court right now.

4.  If we do take an office or make a committment, kindly refrain from passing judgment or trying to instruct us on our work.  That's the job of the Assistant Grand Lecturer, thank you very much.  Inevitably, four people are trying to tell you what to do, one of them is telling you the wrong thing.  We've not been in the Order for fifteen years, and we're bound to make mistakes.  Let us!

5.  Also, when we do make the commitment, most of us do our level best to meet all the demands of our position.  Case in point:  when I took my Grand appointment last year, I made it clear that I would attend as many functions as I could, but that I had other commitments that took precedence.  She was very accepting of this; a lot of people couldn't leave it alone that I wasn't able to attend regular Court meetings, much less every last state function.  If I were wealthy and retired, it would be easier.  But I'm not.

6.  Be nice, but not pushy.  Ask us to be officers, but don't get mad or pressure us if we say no.  Say hello to us, but don't keep repeating, "you really should come more often."  We come when we can, and when we feel welcome, not pressured to perform.

7.  Call or email us when there's something coming up - sooner than a couple days beforehand.  We can arrange to be there if you give us some notice!

8.  Relax - we'll be more comfortable when we don't feel like fresh meat.  Be cool, be kind, and take it easy, and we'll be back.

The best thing about being Royal Matron at 19 is that you are a Past Royal Matron for life.  I never have to be Royal Matron again, ever.  I'm sure I will at some point, but for now, I've got the hookup.  I can hold office on the state level and get all the decent recognition because I did it early.  Nice.



I really, really need to go to bed. 

Comments

[highqueeneb.livejournal.com]

Preach it, sista!

I was honestly relieved to get my transfer up to Oregon last year, right before Elections in my Court. Everyone fully expected me to go up the Line behind AzureRose and I just didn't have the time or inclination to make it to every meeting much less commit to the Line at that time. Moving out of state solved my problem nicely. Unfortunately, too many young members just decide to be entirely inactive rather than semi-active because of the pressure.