Wednesday
Dear NYYM Clerk and Ministry &Counsel Coordinating Committee Clerk
Subject: your damage control letter
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 13:54:24 -0500
From: "Glenn R"
To: 2 email addresses
Dear NYYM Clerk and Ministry &Counsel Coordinating Committee Clerk,
I understand that you feel that I'm speaking out of order. The fact is that I'm not a member of your Society, so I wonder why the invocation of Gospel Order is even used?
I personally feel sad that M&C Coordinating Committee Clerk rubber-stamped my dis-invitation from the NYYM Financial Services Committee meeting in Sept. 2006 (where the expenses and income for NYYM for 2007 was approved). Although we had a nice phone conversation after the fact, I don't know you, so (for this reason) I guess I never lost respect for you, just never gave it to you.
In terms of NYYM Clerk, I feel quite a bit of love (and respect) for you. If you feel damage control by denying anything is wrong and coming after me, is the way to go, I think you're going down the wrong road. NYYM is a society with serious problems of lying to itself, and maintaining the lie at a very nice destination for Annual Sessions among a few other issues I can't write here. I trust you are the one to not allow that to go on.
If you'd (now speaking to both) like to have a dialog, I can suggest some resignations and some things which sound like a pain in the rear, like having key people sign conflicts of interest statements annually, which I feel might help your Society grow, and hopefully end the malfeasance of authoritarian and hierarchal rule that has become de rigeur in NYYM. It was me who suggested that the GS publish his travel schedule. It was seen as a pain in the rear suggestion, but if he's such a highly paid rock star, why shouldn't it endear him to the Society? Coming clean with membership numbers and the slush in the operating budget would be a challenge of true self governance. You can do it all at once, like taking off a band-aid, it will hurt less.
And, as NYYM Clerk knows, I stated my 'agenda' when we were on Nominating Committee together in New York Quarter, and I created the outdoor meeting in New York City. I was then originally blackballed from the committee once it was formed. At the clearness for this conflict, I said, "I'm tired of sitting here and hashing over the same old 12 names to try and fill positions we can't fill because of the membership decline." (And I owe it to my Quaker family living and dead to help Friends grow). I say what I mean and I mean what I say. Growth is hard, and it is sometimes painful, but it is necessary. This I said to the Nominating Committee, when I wrote to respond to NYYM's interest for me to be renominated to Financial Services in 2006.
So, I'm gone. Is NYYM ready to roll up its sleeves and work and grow, or do you want to take the easier road (to a sleepy demise) and come after me?
